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Sixteen-year-old Matlhomola Moshoeu was lying face down with blood on his face when his alleged killers asked passersby to look after him, while they went to report the incident to the police, the North West High Court head on Tuesday.
This was the testimony of Ishmael Mohlaolwa, who was apparently on his way to the town's clinic when he was approached by murder accused Pieter Doorewaard, 27, and Philip Schutte, 34, to look after the severely injured Moshoeu.
Testifying in court on Tuesday, Mohlaolwa detailed how he had witnessed Moshoeu struggling to breathe as he lay on the ground before the police arrived on the scene.
"I didn't see what had happened. I only noticed that he was lying on top of blood. He was still breathing and making sounds," Mohlaolwa told the court.
He said, on the day of the incident, he had noticed a white van traveling at high speed from town towards the sunflower field.
The men stopped where the child was, looked at him and then approached them to ask if they could stay with him, Mohlaolwa said.
"They said, 'please stay with the child. We are going to the police station'."
He, however said he only approached the teenager when the police arrived on scene.
READ: Coligny murder trial: Teen might have been thrown from moving vehicle several times, court told
Doorewaard and Schutte are accused of killing Matlhomola in Coligny last year. The pair claim they caught the teenager stealing a sunflower on April 20, 2017.
The men said they intended driving him to the local police station, but that he had jumped off their bakkie along the way and broken his neck.
The men have pleaded not guilty to charges of Moshoeu's murder, intimidation, kidnapping, theft, the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and pointing a firearm.
Earlier on Tuesday, advocate Pieter Smit, for Schutte, said the testimony by Bonakele Pakisi was "unreliable".
Pakisi is the only person who claims to have seen the accused throw Moshoeu from a moving vehicle.
Smit quizzed Pakisi about an interview he did with a television channel, in which he detailed what had happened to him and Moshoeu.
He said the 28-year-old Pakisi had not told the court some of the things he had told the journalist during the interview.
"Yes, there are things that I did not [say] before court, because when I think of them they make me feel bad about my life.
"Even if it is unreliable, my feelings were hurt by the accused. They know exactly what they did."
ALSO READ: 'I am not making up a story' - Coligny murder trial witness
Moshoeu's death sparked protests in the area, with some residents saying he was killed because he was black. Several houses and businesses were burnt to the ground.
Doorewaard and Schutte are out on R5 000 bail each. The trial continues on Wednesday.
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