Murder suspect’s brother testifies

THE brother of a young Windhoek resident charged with fatally stabbing a 17-year-old youth outside a Khomasdal club on Workers’ Day in 2005 found himself in the uncomfortable position of having to testify for the prosecution in his brother’s trial yesterday.

Facing his younger brother, Marco Coetzee (21), across the courtroom in the Windhoek Regional Court, State witness Rodney Coetzee was asked to recount the events that ended in the death of 17-year-old Freddy Winston van Wyk on May 1 2005.
Van Wyk died after being stabbed in the chest outside a bar in Khomasdal in the early morning hours of May 1 2005.
Coetzee pleaded not guilty to a murder charge before Magistrate Sarel Jacobs in the Windhoek Regional Court in late January last year. His trial was postponed just after he had pleaded, with the first State witnesses starting to testify in the trial only this week.
In a plea explanation given by Coetzee’s defence counsel, Jan Wessels, the court was informed that Coetzee was admitting that he stabbed Van Wyk, but claimed it was self defence, as he was under attack from Van Wyk.
Yesterday, Rodney Coetzee was the fourth State witness to give evidence.
In their testimony on Monday and yesterday, three previous witnesses for the prosecution – all of them were close friends of Van Wyk – all disputed that Van Wyk was attacking Coetzee when he was stabbed.
In his testimony, Rodney Coetzee told the Magistrate that he was standing outside the bar where the incident took place when someone came to tell him that his brother was being hit against a wall by somebody.
He found Van Wyk walking in his direction when he went to see what was going on, Coetzee said.
He said he wanted to get clarity from Van Wyk about what had been happening.
At that stage there was no quarrel going on between Van Wyk and his brother any more, but with a group of people having gathered noisily around them, he took Van Wyk by the hand and told him they should move away so that they could talk where it was less noisy, Coetzee said.
They were just about to start moving away when Van Wyk cried out that he had been stabbed and clutched at his chest, Coetzee testified.
He said when he looked around, he saw his brother standing with a friend about 10 metres away, where they were exchanging something.
He asked his brother if he had stabbed Van Wyk, but he answered that he had not, Coetzee related.
The first three prosecution witnesses all claimed to have seen Marco Coetzee suddenly appear from behind his brother a moment before he carried out the stabbing.
According to Rodney Coetzee, though, he did not see his brother carry out the stabbing. He also did not see Van Wyk attack his brother, or lift a hand in a movement that may have appeared to be part of an attack, before the stabbing, he told the Magistrate.
With Coetzee’s testimony over, Public Prosecutor Simba Nduna told the Magistrate that the prosecution intended calling one more witness to testify as part of the State’s case. Because that witness was not available this week, though, the trial has been postponed to March 23.