Durban — SANDF Staff Sergeant Sandile Myisa will be sentenced on October 28 after he was found guilty of murder in the Durban Regional Court on Wednesday.
Myisa shot and killed Eugene Adams, 44, on December 15, 2018, in Perrywinkle Road on the Bluff.
Myisa pleaded not guilty in court and delayed the matter several times before the trial began.
Adams’s son, Donnel Adams, told the court he was returning from the shopping centre with his friend when a group of boys approached them.
Donnel said they took his cellphone out of his hand and stabbed his friend in the head with a piece of broken bottle.
Donnel testified that he went home and informed his parents, who took them to the Brighton Beach police station.
He told the court that the police declined to open a case.
Donnel knew one of the boys in the group. He took his parents to the house where the boy lived with the intention of retrieving the phone.
Adams, his wife, Mandy, Donnel and a relative had gone to Myisa’s home to inform him that his son knew who took the phone and if it could be returned. According to Donnel, Myisa came outside to see what was happening and, after a brief discussion, went back inside the house.
The boys who had taken his phone arrived and there was an argument in the road. Myisa returned and shot Adams in the head and the stomach.
Myisa told the court that he had acted in self-defence because Adams rushed at him with a knife. He also claimed he had fired warning shots and then shot Adams a metre away from him. This could not be proven in court and witnesses testified that Adams was not armed with any weapon.
Magistrate Ncumisa Gcolotela said: “If a person was advancing toward you, why did you not aim for his legs or lower body to immobilise him (Adams)?”
Gcolotela said Myisa’s testimony before court and that of his witness was riddled with improbabilities and inconsistencies. She found it difficult to follow Myisa’s versions of events and he presented new evidence to the court at different stages in the trial. Gcolotela found that the three State witnesses were clear, collaborating with each other, and were honest and satisfactory.
Myisa’s bail was extended until the end of October when he appears for sentencing. He told the court he was still working, much to the dissatisfaction of the Adams family, who were present in court.
Eugene’s wife, Mandy Adams, said Myisa had taken away a breadwinner and the fact that Myisa mentioned he was a family man, in his motivation for his bail to be extended, made them angry.
Daily News