George Herald | Tatane case to continue

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Tatane case to continue
10:29 (GMT+2), Tue, 15 May 2012

NATIONAL NEWS - The State is to call its fifth witness on Tuesday in the trial of seven policemen accused of killing Ficksburg protester Andries Tatane.

On Monday, SABC cameraman Filane Chomane told the Ficksburg Regional Court he had not been unwilling to give police a statement on events that led to the death of Tatane.

Chomane was the second State witness to testify in the trial of the public order policemen.

The officers each face murder and assault charges for killing Tatane during a march against poor service delivery in the Setsoto local municipality on April 13, 2011.

During cross examination, Nel pointed out what he described as contradictions in Chomane's statement to investigators two months after Tatane's death, and his testimony on Monday.

Chomane also questioned the accuracy of a news article in which he was quoted.

"No, the quote ['shoot him'] is not correct," he testified, adding that he only heard "shoot" and that the words "shoot him" were the journalist's.

Nel questioned Chomane why he did not tell police what he told the media about seeing something hitting Tatane's back after a shot was fired.

Chomane said he was not asked.

"The whole point of the exercise was [about] a man being shot. You tell the court nobody asked," Nel argued.

Chomane said the investigators did not ask the same questions as Nel.

Two more State witnesses also testified to SABC video footage. They are the regional news editor of the SABC in the Free State, Richard Newton and his assistant Elsabe du Plessis.

Source : Sapa