MBOMBELA – The trial of three Zimbabwean men accused of killing timber farmer, Mr Paul Mason on October 3, 2013 started in the local division of the Eastern District Circuit High Court on Tuesday.
Charges against Mr Fortune Charumbira Mpofu, Mr Innocent Bangy Ncube and Mr Tackler Happy Ndlovu include that of robbing and assaulting Mason, his wife, Gwen and their gardener, Mr Johannes Mathebula. They were also charged with Paul’s murder and the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. The fourth suspect had not been charged.
Lowvelder previously reported that Paul had been shot dead at approximately 09:00. After apparently checking on the timber crews in the plantations surrounding their house, the couple returned home where Paul checked something on his bakkiesakkie.
Unbeknown to the Masons, their attackers had already abducted Mathebula, whose hands and feet were tied with a cable and shoelaces. He had also been robbed of his cellphone and R40 cash. Next Paul was shot and killed a few metres from the house.
Gwen testified about what had happened next. The four men overpowered her and forced their way through the door. “We shot your husband,” they said. According to her testimony, they said that he had been shot in the leg. According to her testimony, one of the men put a gun against Gwen’s head. “They took me to the bedroom. One of them demanded money and coins. I told them that we didn’t possess any coins. I was then told in extremely abusive language that they were going to rape me. I started to pray.” She was threatened with a gun to her head while two of the men ransacked the Masons’ home.
“The man with the gun and one other took me to the toilet. They tied my feet up with Paul’s tekkie laces when I noticed that a cross had somehow landed at my feet.” This was made of nails and normally displayed in the their home. Gwen covered the cross with her foot as she did not want the men to take note of it. The attackers left her tied to the toilet and closed the door. A while later one of them returned. “He opened the door and saluted me. The salute and his facial expression were both arrogant. He closed the door.”
Gwen, who was still under the impression that her husband had only been shot in the leg, while testifying recalled the thoughts she had experienced in that moment. “I knew that, had my husband been shot in the leg, he would have been able to stop the bleeding and would have been okay.” Gwen focused on untying her hands. She then picked up the cross and used it to loosen the ties around her feet. After waiting a while for fear that her attackers might return, she left the bathroom and used their two-way radio to call for help. She also contacted her three brothers.
“I went outside to assist my husband. It was when I saw him lying on the ground that I realised that Paul had not been shot in the leg. “He had been shot in the stomach and chest and was already dead.” Gwen’s testimony was scheduled to continue this week, along with that of Mathebula’s. At the time of going to press, the outcome of the week’s proceedings had not yet been made available.
Read more on the incident here: Much loved timber farmer murdered
