The Port Elizabeth High Court has heard that in the months before 12-year-old Aaliyah “Angel” Tee was gunned down in cold blood, there were rumours going around that gangsters had been planning to take out her mother and father.
Angel was murdered in June last year when gunmen, pretending to be policemen, forced their way into her parents Barberry Street home in Bethelsdorp.
Nealon Redhouse, 18, and Deon Harmse, 24, were also charged with the attempted murder of Angel’s mother Candice and father, Edmund, who was wounded in the attack.
On Wednesday Candice Tee told the court under cross-examination that after the shooting of notorious Port Elizabeth gangster Donovan “Staal” Berry in May last year, rumours were going around that her husband had been phoning the police constantly. “But that’s not true we never made any statements to police,” said Tee.
Tee said that at the time they did not trust the police.
Berry was killed in a hail of bullets in what was believed to be an assassination by rival gang members. He was killed in Barberry Street, Bethelsdorp, and was believed to be affiliated to the Spotbouers gang.
Tee had earlier told the court that she had witnessed the shooting and saw three of the alleged shooters. On Wednesday she elaborated about the warning signs and threats against her husband Staal’s shooting.
“My husband, Aaliyah and I were coming from church when a police van was standing across the road at the smart shop. One of their friends came to our house and said, uncle, why are you phoning the police constantly.”
“My husband was very worried. On that Monday someone else came to our house and said ‘uncle and Aunty Candice I promise nothing will happen to you,” Tee told the court.
Tee said after receiving assurances, the family did not concern themselves with Staal’s shooting which occurred across the road from their home.
Defence attorney Jodene Coertzen, said that Redhouse would say that Tee was falsely implicating him because of the rumours that she had heard. But Tee was adamant he was the man who held the gun that killed her daughter.
The trial continues on Thursday.
– African News Agency (ANA)
