A former Merino Butchery employee claimed he was assaulted and provoked to such an extent that he picked up a knife and stabbed his co-worker and friend in the back while at work.
Testifying in his own defence in the Gqeberha high court on Tuesday, Lucian Plaatjies wiped away tears as he recalled the events of January 14 2021 that led to the murder of fellow blockman Nkululo Mini.
The 39-year-old said he had not been himself when he took the knife and stabbed Mini several times.
“I went to him [with the knife] to scare him and all of a sudden I wasn’t myself.
“I had been attacked. I was angry and I was provoked.”
The married father of five pleaded not guilty last week to murder.
During his testimony, Plaatjies told the court that on the day of the stabbing he had been at his work station with his girlfriend, Natasha Panganie, who also worked at the Crawford Street business and with whom he had been in a love relationship for more than six years.
According to Plaatjies, while he was cutting and preparing various cuts of meat, Panganie was placing the meat into packaging and he noticed Mini occasionally walking past them and looking at Panganie, with whom he shares a child.
Panganie then said they should speak to Mini to hear what was going on.
When the pair arrived at Mini’s work station, Panganie allegedly asked Mini to confirm if there was something between them, to which Mini shook his head.
As the pair left, Plaatjies, said he had heard Mini say something, but he had not responded.
He said that a short while later, while he was carrying a box of steaks, he had suddenly seen Mini coming towards him.
“He was angry and aggressive. He was coming towards me to hit me. I threw the box at him to stop him.
“He came to me and hit me, I can’t recall how many hits. It was a vicious attack on me,” Plaatjies said.
Plaatjies said that after the attack, which was captured on CCTV cameras and played in court, he had gone to wash his face, nose and mouth when he heard something behind him and thought Mini was going to attack him again.
He said it had been then that he picked up the knife and went to the back to confront Mini.
“I went to frighten him and then I stabbed him,” Plaatjies said.
He said that after the stabbing incident he had moved to the front of the butchery and overheard someone say Mini was in bad shape.
He then returned to where he had stabbed Mini and sat next to him and prayed before an ambulance arrived and asked everyone to leave.
Mini was declared dead at the scene.
A postmortem report revealed the cause of death to be stab wounds to the left leg and upper left back.
Plaatjies was arrested at the scene and later released on bail.
The trial continues.
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