Luyanda Mona was so angry at having been belittled by three men who'd argued with him that, despite his passengers' pleas, he drove back to look for them, vowing revenge. The Grahamstown Regional Court heard this on Thursday from second state witness, Siphokazi Kalipa, in the trial of the former DJ. He is accused of culpable homicide after he allegedly drove into three men in Nompondo Street, Joza, in November 2006. Ayanda Liwani and Zamile Makafe died on the scene. Sipho Stamper died later in hospital. Last Wednesday, after numerous delays since proceedings began in 2006, Mona's ex-girlfriend Yandiswa Konza told the court that he'd had an altercation with the trio, to whom he had given a lift. The men had demanded that he take them to Extension 8. Instead, he dropped them at an intersection leading to Extension 8. Konza said on Wednesday that one of the men had struggled with the accused over the steering wheel. She said Mona had taken one of her friends to Cool Spot once the men had left, and then she'd asked Mona to take her home. She said while driving down Nompondo Street, she had seen three men coming in the opposite direction, who refused to move from the road. “I covered my eyes and felt the car swerving and heard a bang afterwards,” she said. However, in a significant twist, Kalipa suggested there was nothing accidental about the event. Mona had been deejaying at 12 Down tavern on the night of the incident, she said. “He was consuming alcohol while he was deejaying at the tavern,” said Kalipa, who had asked Mona to take her to Cool Spot tavern after the argument. Mona was still furious at what had happened and vowed to “show the men shit”, Kalipa said. “I pleaded with him not go back there [but]he said those gentlemen had belittled him and was going to get them,” she said. Defence attorney, Mzuphela Yeko, said he found it strange that Kalipa had heard Mona say those words, yet Konza hadn't heard them. “You were all together when the accused dropped you at the Cool Spot, and yet your friend did not hear him saying those words,” said Yeko. But Kalipa was adamant. “He was shouting, throwing his hands around, and Yaya (Konza's nickname) also asked him not to go back there.” The state closed its case and the defence indicated that it would not call any witnesses. The case was postponed to today for closing arguments.Mona is out on warning.
