The Delft duo accused of strangling an elderly Ottery couple to death in an apparent house robbery are set to learn their fate at the Western Cape High Court next month.
Gcinlelitha Ngcobelothe and Lwazi Ntsibantsiba returned to court last Friday, where final arguments were heard after the protracted murder trial.
The duo are charged with the murder of Rugaya and Riedewaan Addinall, who were killed in their Ottery home on January 5, 2019.
They were arrested after the elderly couple, both aged 82, were found strangled to death while some of their possessions were packed in their Mercedes-Benz.
According to the State’s case, Ngcobelothe was employed as the couple’s gardener and had allegedly taken his friend to the house after they planned to rob the couple.
During the trial, Ngcobelothe said he had left the Ottery house to complete a job elsewhere and claimed that his co-accused was angry after being made to do “women’s work”. Ntsibantsiba, however, claimed he only entered the home after the murder and was bang of Ngcobelothe, hence failed to report the murders to the police.
In her address, State prosecutor Nadia Ajam accused Ngcobelothe of creating conspiracy theories to claim he was being maliciously prosecuted, after defence advocate Bashier Sibda pointed to missing CCTV footage which he claimed could have proven that his client had left the property.
However, Ajam said the missing footage was an oversight by the neighbour who provided it and not a deliberate attempt to change evidence.
“All Accused One has is conspiracy theories. The truth is he was there to kill people who had cared and supported him,” she told the court.
Judgement will be handed down on September 15.