AKA murder trial: detective names two accused in airport and Wish restaurant footage

A police detective has told the Durban High Court that he recognised two of the seven men accused of killing Kiernan "AKA" Forbes in surveillance footage from the day of the shooting: one at King Shaka International Airport, the other inside the restaurant where he had dinner that night.

Rajen Sanders, a technical detective with the KwaZulu-Natal organised crime unit, testified on Thursday and Friday. Forbes and his friend Tebello "Tibz" Motsoane were shot dead outside Wish restaurant on Florida Road on 10 February 2023. All seven accused have pleaded not guilty to charges that include murder, attempted murder and the illegal possession of firearms.

The airport and the hotel

On Thursday, Sanders identified accused number four, Muziwethemba Gwabeni, as a man in a black-and-white jacket seen trailing Forbes at the airport, Sowetan reported. He said the same man was filmed driving a BMW that he had allegedly leased, and that footage showed the car following Forbes's vehicle through the Sanral tollgate near the airport.

Further footage, Sanders said, showed a grey VW Polo and a white Hyundai Grand i10 passing the Hilton hotel in Umhlanga, where Forbes and his group were booked. Sowetan reported that Gwabeni had leased both cars from Sonwabile Bani, who confirmed in testimony that the vehicles were his.

Gwabeni's lawyer, William Nicholson, objected to the detective identifying his client in court. Judge Nomfundo Sipunzi overruled the objection.

Inside Wish

On Friday, the court was shown footage from inside the restaurant. Sanders said he watched it several times before concluding that a man in a white T-shirt and shorts was accused number five, Lindokuhle Mhlaliseni Ndimande, TimesLIVE reported.

According to his testimony, the man arrived as a passenger in a grey VW Polo. He then moved in and out of Wish and the neighbouring AuthentiQ, where Motsoane was sitting with friends, and sat alone at a table opposite Forbes's group, on his phone throughout. SABC News reported that the footage gives a clear view of the table where Forbes sat.

Sanders said the man was still inside when the shots were fired, then stood up, paid his bill by card and left.

Ndimande admitted in his bail application that he was at Wish that day, but said he had gone there to meet a girlfriend who never arrived. Prosecutor Lawrence Gcaba told the court that he intends to hand in the record of that application as evidence.

What happens next

The identifications are part of the State's case and have not been tested in a ruling. Sanders returns to the stand on Monday to continue taking the court through the footage.

On Monday the court heard a surveillance analyst take it through the airport video, and a ballistics expert link one of the two firearms to a 2022 killing in Durban.