Survivor remembers events on koppie
|Published
170413. Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court in Ekurhuleni near Thokoza. Three men and a girl Harvey Isha, Robin Harwood, Lindon Wagner, and Courtney Daniels accused of killing a teenager Kirsty Theologo by setting her alight in 2011. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko. 170413. Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court in Ekurhuleni near Thokoza. Three men and a girl Harvey Isha, Robin Harwood, Lindon Wagner, and Courtney Daniels accused of killing a teenager Kirsty Theologo by setting her alight in 2011. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko.
Johannesburg - A girl who survived an apparent satanic attack in 2011 told the High Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court on Thursday that her friend called out to her while she lay passed-out during the attack.
The girl, who was 14-years-old at the time, said she felt dizzy and blacked out after drinking alcohol bought by one of the accused, Courtney Daniels.
She said it tasted unusual; not like alcohol.
“I started feeling dizzy. My ears were buzzing and the heat from the fire was blowing in my face,” she said.
Daniels, who was also a minor at the time, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, with her co-accused Harvey Isha, Robin Harwood, and Lindon Wagner to charges of murder, attempted murder, and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The girl, who may not be named as she is a minor, has refused to testify in camera. She told the court Daniels and Wagner started a fire at the top of the koppie where she and her friend Kirsty Theologo were attacked. At the time, she thought: “Yoh, that was quick,” she said.
Theologo had called to her in a “heart-sore voice”. She seemed to be struggling to speak.
Theologo and the girl were burnt in the attack, in October 2011. Theologo died of her injuries, but the girl survived.
She told the court that when she came to everything was a blur. While she was trying to focus, she saw Wagner jump on the fire.
She was still trying to recover when she was throttled with her scarf from behind. She saw it was Wagner who was strangling her, she testified.
Theologo kept calling to her, and saying they should go home.
The girl told the court someone hit Theologo in the face with a brick.
On Wednesday, the court heard Theologo carried her friend back to the house after the attack.
The girl said Theologo was her best friend. “She was my everything.”
Earlier, the girl's mother testified her daughter did not have a lot of friends, but that Theologo had been her closest friend. - Sapa