By Penelope Mashego
Thursday, February 5, 2015
People attempt to catch a loaf of stolen bread thrown by one of a mob of youths looting a shop in Meadowlands, Soweto. Image by: JAMES OATWAY Sunday Times.
A Somali shopkeeper fired the shot that killed a teen while a seemingly unstoppabble crowd was breaking down his door - and one of them had brought the gun.
This was the explanation Abdixashi Sheik Yusuf offered the Protea Magistrate's Court in Soweto on Wednesday.
Yusuf, 33, who has allegedly been in the country since 2006 as a refugee, is charged with the murder of Siphiwe Mahori, 14, after the shooting last month. Widespread looting of foreign-owned shops in Soweto and elsewhere followed the incident.
The Somali national applied for bail on Wednesday.
In an affidavit, the father of one said that he and his brother had just closed the shop in Snake Park, Soweto, at about 10pm on January 19 when they heard banging on the shop's roller door. They realised that people were trying to break into the shop. Some people attempted to enter the shop through the roof, he said.
He called the police and soon after that some of the people managed to get the door open.
Yusuf said in the scuffle to get the door closed, a gun fell from within the crowd into the shop.
He said after he and his brother closed the door, he picked up the gun and fired at the roof and at the door.
Yusuf said he was not aware that he had shot anyone.
“I only saw there was a boy shot when the police arrived,” he said.
“I accept that the charges laid against me are serious but I don't admit to any guilt,” he told the court.
Yusuf is facing charges of murder, attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
The matter was postponed until Friday for police to verify Yusuf's refugee status.
Vice-chairman of the Somali Association of South Africa Kassim Ali said he would not necessarily call the looting of foreign-owned shops xenophobic attacks but rather crime.
“I condemn it [the shooting], and say sorry,” he said.
He said Yusuf choosing to shoot was “not a good decision, but it has happened”, adding that it was up to the court to decide whether he was guilty or not
Source: Times Live