Special Hearings — Mandela United Football Club Hearings — UNKNOWN

MR RICHARD: And what happened when you informed Guybon that evening that you had assaulted Stompie because he had sold out four Guerillas in Parys?

JERRY RICHARDSON: Guybon kicked Stompie as well as the other youths.  But he kicked Stompie so severely, much more than the other youths.  Each time he looked at Stompie, he would just kick him because he had sold the Guerillas.

MR RICHARD: And then that evening, did Sonwabo have any role to play, did he do anything, did he come?

JERRY RICHARDSON: Yes, Sonwabo did come.  I related the story to him.  He came into my room and I related the events of the previous day to him.
 When we got into my room, I pointed Stompie out and he still assaulted Stompie even further, even though  he was weak and laying on the ground.  He did not assault the other ones like he assaulted Stompie.
 Then he went out.  He got into the house, the main house.

MR RICHARD: Now, the next morning, Stompie was alive and what was the condition of Kenny, Thabo and Pelo, that is Gabriel?

JERRY RICHARDSON: They were all injured because they had been severely assaulted, but Stompie was worse off.

MR RICHARD: Now, here it is said in your instructions that Mrs Mandela took the three of them to town with her and bought them some clothes and they came back at one o'clock.  Do you remember that?

JERRY RICHARDSON: Yes, that is true.  She did that.  They even came back to show me the clothes.  She used to buy them similar clothes, that is khaki's.

MR RICHARD: Now, at 18h30 that evening Sonwabo joined you this time there was a discussion and a meeting, would you please tell us what happened?

JERRY RICHARDSON: A meeting was held and Sonwabo was actually putting pressure on me to carry out this instruction.  He at some stage said, this is going to backfire.

MR RICHARD: This is now a few days after the first assault had commenced?  There is a meeting that evening at 18h30 and I didn't ask what the conclusion was, I wanted to know what the contents of the meeting is.   What was said at the meeting, who was at the meeting?

JERRY RICHARDSON: I don't remember this meeting you are referring to.  Could you please give me a clue or tell me what meeting you are referring to.

MR RICHARD: The three had been taken to the shops to buy clothes.  They had come back at approximately 13h00, that is one o'clock according to your instructions.  They showed you the clothes, according to what you said.
 That afternoon at about 18h30 Sonwabo arrived and he asked you a question, what was that question?

JERRY RICHARDSON: How is this connected, Sonwabo wasn't in the picture and Kenny is not in the picture.  The people who were bought clothes, were only two youths, Thabiso and Filly.  I don't know what happened to Kenny.

MR RICHARD: No, it is not about Kenny at all.  It is that afternoon and according to your instructions, Sonwabo told me, I am reading, are you prepared to kill Stompie and there was a discussion, a meeting.  I can't ask any more questions before I must leave it.  Did that happen or didn't it?

JERRY RICHARDSON: I don't remember.  Maybe it will come back to me at a later stage, but I don't remember the meeting you are referring me to.

MR RICHARD: (Inaudible)

JERRY RICHARDSON: That is correct, that I should kill Stompie.

MR RICHARD: At which meeting was that instruction given?  Who was at the discussion to give that instruction?

JERRY RICHARDSON: Mommy was present, Sledge, myself.  Mommy asked as to whether I trusted Sledge and I said yes, I do.  And she asked Sledge whether Sledge trusted me and he said yes.
 And Mommy said we should do one thing.

MR RICHARD: Right, then Sledge and you did something.  Where did you go and what did you do?

JERRY RICHARDSON: We had been given a task and an instruction.  We went to look for a place.  As you go towards Noordgesig, we went to look at a certain hill or a mountain next to Noordgesig and we saw some rocks there.
 The place was next to the railway line from New Canada towards Noordgesig.  We saw that secluded spot there.

MR RICHARD: Thank you.  Now you came home late that night and went to bed, is that not correct?

JERRY RICHARDSON: Yes, that is correct.

MR RICHARD: Now, the next morning, did you do what was planned, yes or no?

JERRY RICHARDSON: Yes, we carried out our plan.

MR RICHARD: Was it possible to do that job because according to the instructions, at that stage had visitors?

JERRY RICHARDSON: Yes, there were a lot of visitors, there would be the Crisis Committee as well as people who had just come to investigate.  Mommy would hide me at times and at times she would ultimately have to call me.

MR RICHARD: Isn't it correct that the evening that Frank Chikane, Sister Bernard Makobe and others came to visit, you postponed the job, correct?

JERRY RICHARDSON: Yes, that is true.

MR RICHARD: Then, later that evening, there was a discussion between yourself and Mrs Mandela and to what effect was that?

JERRY RICHARDSON: We were talking with regard to Stompie, the Crisis Committee and we were sceptical of the Crisis Committee and she expressed her concern that the Crisis Committee was going to discover the presence of the youths in her yard.

MR RICHARD: Thank you.  Now, did you not go to bed that evening and leave whatever was going to be done, to the next day?

JERRY RICHARDSON: That is correct.

MR RICHARD: Now, the next morning, you sent the rest of the people into the house and you and some others did something, what was that?

JERRY RICHARDSON: Yes, that is true.  We did something very bad, that was myself and Sledge.  We spoke to the rest of the comrades who were in Diepkloof extension.  We said Mommy was very ill and she feels better when you sing freedom songs or slogans.
 We called in the other comrades to come and sing for Mommy.  When they got into the house, they started the slogan as well as the freedom songs.  Mommy was sitting in the sitting room and I said to Stompie, today I am taking you home.
 I looked around and realised that there wasn't anyone in the yard.  I took Stompie with, Sledge followed me.  I had a pair of garden shears and gave it to Sledge because I had to help Stompie along, because he was very ill, very weak and he looked quite delirious.
 We dragged Stompie along.

MR RICHARD: Then, you reached Noordgesig and were facing a railway line.  What is that railway line known as?

JERRY RICHARDSON: No, we did not go towards the railway line, we went to Noordgesig.  We went to the mountain in Noordgesig.   That is where we took Stompie.
 That is the most painful part.  I don't know whether I should proceed.  I did the same with him, I slaughtered him.  I slaughtered him like a goat.  We made him lay on his back and I put garden shears through his neck and the garden shears penetrated to the back of his neck and I made some cutting motion.  Sledge also had his own pair of garden shears and he cut Stompie's neck.  He really wanted to make sure that we cut his throat.

MR RICHARD: The technique that you used with the shears, was it as if you were slicing a loaf of bread or a stabbing motion?

JERRY RICHARDSON: It was a stabbing motion, not the cutting motion.  But Sledge had the duty to finish off.  I just let the garden shears penetrate through the neck.

MR RICHARD: What did you do next?  Carry on.

JERRY RICHARDSON: We stood there for quite a long time.  We wanted Stompie's body to be cool, because we told ourselves that we were committing the perfect crime.  We watched the cars passing by but we were not very concerned, because we were away from the glaring lights of the cars.
 Ultimately we saw that Stompie had died.  We went to the river, we washed ourselves, we washed the traces of blood off.  We proceeded to Diepkloof because we still had this pair of garden shears and we were taking it back to Mommy's house.
 We screwed it together once more, we put it in the garage, Mommy's garage.