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Cape Town - A happy night of pub and club hopping to celebrate a 21st birthday turned into a nightmare for four friends in Claremont, Cape Town, when two men beat one of the friends so severely that he died in hospital, the Western Cape High Court heard on Thursday.
Two men - Brent Henry and Juane Jacobs - are on trial for the murder of Carl Schoombie, who died from severe injuries after being accused of starting trouble at the Tiger Tiger nightclub in November 2015.
In the witness stand on Thursday was Victoria Packer, who was forced to relive the ordeal as she described how their Uber taxi was intercepted on their way home, and how the two men started beating Schoombie and another friend, John Cannon.
It was supposed to have been a celebratory night for the four friends. Sarah Cannon wanted to celebrate her 21st birthday with her brother John and their friends Packer and Schoombie. Schoombie had just returned from a trip overseas.
On the evening of November 20, 2015, they visited Tiger's Milk restaurant and the Vanilla Bar before moving on to the popular nightclub Tiger Tiger in a shopping mall in Claremont, Cape Town.
Sitting in the witness stand, she told Judge Robert Henney that she could not remember how much she had had to drink, but remembered a cocktail and a drink or two later, before switching to water.
The four had decided to leave the club around 04:00 and went down the escalators to catch the Uber taxi they had ordered.
Taxi cornered
They had gone a short distance in the Uber when a black Audi intercepted them and two men got out. Their worried driver tried to speed forward to get them away, but in the process, he hit one of the Audi's doors.
The taxi was later cornered in a cul-de-sac by the Audi and the two men got out again and were very hostile towards the four, Packer said.
"They were screaming at us, saying we had made trouble in the club and that we shouldn't mess with them. They were screaming and shouting at us,'' she said.
''We were shouting, 'you have the wrong people'," she continued.
One of the men approached her from where he was attacking her friends.
"He told me to get my fucking pussy back in the car before he hit me.
"He was very aggressive, I was very scared," she said.
Police said at the time that Schoombie was beaten so severely that he had died of his injuries on November 25.
The trial continues.
