Perhaps surprisingly, given the detailed story Rekisang had told the court, Kelly decided not to ask any questions of this witness. Instead the court officials tried to clarify various points. Twice they returned to the issue of whether Rekisang was awake at the time of the first shot. After much to and fro with translations, the following was the final position:
There was no moon that night. I saw Tammai and Keree go to Twai Twai’s shelter before the first shot, so I was only half asleep at the time of the shooting. There was very little time between the two shots fired. Even though the men had talked about this around the fire I did not think that it would actually happen. Temee, Toi Toi and Orai were so frightened that they ran away straight after the shooting. The man who was shot through the ribs bled a lot, I carried his legs. I had only seen animals shot right through before. I did not notice blood on his clothes, only on the ground. When we got to the place of the fire the bodies were cut up using a knife and Tammai’s axe. Tammai had gotten blood on his trousers, near the fly. Keree was not wearing trousers or a shirt and so he had no bloodstains. I only noticed blood on the white men’s clothes when they were folded up later on.
Afterwards, Twai Twai gave the money to me as his mother would have wanted a proper explanation as to where it had come from. His mother was not home when we returned so we took the clothes to Twai Twai’s second wife, Dambe. The bottle with the fat was used to carry Vaseline, but it was empty at the time of the murder. My evidence is not affected by my religious beliefs.
The mention of Dambe must have raised a question in Fraenkel’s mind as he then asked Rekisang about the relationship between them. Rekisang explained that Twai Twai preferred Dambe to Rekisang’s mother and that her mother had argued with Twai Twai and Dambe over this, but that this quarrel had not influenced her evidence. Rekisang claimed that she had always been on good terms with her father and this was shown by the fact she lived in the same small village as him, even after the killing.
Rekisang’s evidence had taken up most of the second day and the judge called an overnight halt at this point. The mention of medicine and the strange mutilation of the bodies, especially of the genitals, certainly excited the press as it offered an exciting alternative to illegal hunting as a motive for the alleged murders. This was reflected not only in the following day’s papers, but also in some of the persistent rumours that built up around the case.
WEDNESDAY 27 SEPTEMBER
Prosecution Witness – Morobe
The third day was opened by another daughter of the main accused. This time it was Morobe who was giving evidence that could potentially see her father, Tammai, hanged. Her evidence was almost identical to Rekisang’s, describing how an aeroplane had been seen flying east on the fourth and then heard again the next morning. She told of how a search party had been sent out with the horse and donkeys, and of how they had returned with two white men. We pick up her story as she sat around the fire after the two airmen had retired to Twai Twai’s shelter:
I heard Twai Twai say ‘Let us kill the white men’ and Tammai agree to the suggestion, but I did not hear what else was said afterwards. I was surprised by this conversation, I did not think they were serious. I really did not think they would murder the white men.
After the shooting, the bodies were carried away towards Cutico, but the white men’s socks and shoes were left at the camp. The other clothes were taken off by Twai Twai and Tammai at the fire that they were making to burn the bodies. Tammai ordered me to get the coals from the campsite to light the fire, which I did. At the fire I saw Twai Twai take fat from under the ribs of one of the bodies. Keree helped collect the firewood.
I was back at the campsite before sunrise, though it was just getting light. Rekisang and Chenda carried the clothes back to the campsite. I saw blood on those carried by Chenda, but I could not see the clothes that Rekisang took.
The body parts, including the fat and the genitals, were burnt and the mixture collected in two bottles. This medicine would help the owner to have good luck and get more money. Tammai gave me his bottle to look after for him, I did not use it.
When we left, Tammai took the airmen’s axe. At this time Tammai was wearing long trousers that he later made into shorts. I did not see any bloodstains on these trousers. I saw a water container that he had got from the white men. It was like the containers I have seen in stores. Tammai also took some material that I later saw being made into a dress. This material was not big enough. I also saw two blankets that had belonged to the airmen.
The latter had been referred to as ‘pieces of material’ during the Francistown hearing and this was pointed out to the court as the judge had the pre-hearing transcript in front of him during the trial. This was the first of three points where Morobe’s evidence to the court differed from her previous testimony, leaving the court to decide on whether these discrepancies were translation errors, honest mistakes or something more sinister. Fraenkel then started his cross-examination by focusing on points of detail:
The tall white man had black hair, while the short man had light coloured hair. I think the white men were asleep when I went to my shelter to sleep. After the shots were fired Twai Twai and Tammai called the women together. The tall man had been shot in the head, by the left temple – there was lots of blood. The short man had been shot in the loin but he also had a wound by his ribs. It was the tall man that was still struggling. When the bodies were undressed, only one man was wearing a vest. I saw some bloodstains on the clothes, but there was only a little blood on the clothes belonging to the tall man.
There was then some confusion over which women had carried what back from the fire, again there was some difference between Morobe’s evidence and her earlier recollections. The next question produced the final change from her earlier testimony at Francistown:
Twai Twai took the water container I had seen.
I do not know how long it was before the police arrived because I do not know how to count days.
This time Kelly did take the opportunity to question the witness. He kept the questions short, focusing on the state of mind of the women involved:
The white men had left to go and sleep by the time Twai Twai talked about killing them. I have never seen anybody killed before, so I did not take this conversation seriously. When the murders happened we were alarmed and afraid, we only carried the bodies because we were ordered to. We knew it was wrong but we were too frightened to run away. In any case, it was dark and there was nowhere to run to.
The Attorney General then took the opportunity to ask further questions of his witness:
When the bodies were being undressed the fire had already been lit, but it was still small and I could only see a short distance. I only saw one side of the man who had been shot in the head. I saw where the bullet went in, making a wound of about two inches. I saw a wound on the neck of the man that had been killed with the axe. I could see this, but I did not touch the bodies. I did carry the fire from the campsite, but I refused to help carry the bodies.
When the police came Matammai, Tammai’s mother, took the items that Tammai had himself taken from the two white men.
Ellenberger and Mackenzie, the two District Commissioners, then took their respective turns with the witness:
The white men took their shoes off before sleeping. The blankets they used were white, but a different colour to the dress that Chenda made. The white men had carried these blankets into the camp. The water container they brought had a string to carry it, it was not like our water containers because ours are made of animal skin. The men slept on their left-hand side.
Mackenzie pointed out that if they had been sleeping on their left then the tall man could not have been shot in the left temple. He asked Morobe how this was possible:
I did not see the right-hand side of this man. The other man had two wounds. At the fire the bodies had their arms cut off at the elbow and the heads removed.
Prosecution Witness –
Toi T
oi
Following a lunch break, the prosecution called Toi Toi as their next witness. Toi Toi was part of the party that had gone to search for the aeroplane when it had been heard on the second morning. He started by explaining his relationship to the other members of the hunting party, perhaps to the consternation of his translator:
I am the son of Resetora and Keree is my uncle. Chikawe is my sister and I am related to Tammai, but this relationship is too complicated to explain.
I was one of the party that went to search for the white men. We found the aeroplane first and then we followed the white men’s tracks until we found them. When we got to the white men they were carrying an axe and a suitcase made of red leather. The case had a handle.
The description of the suitcase was made by Toi Toi initially pointing to a dispatch case in the court. He then used a photograph of a parachute pack to identify it as such:
I later saw white material inside this case. The men also had a canvas water container.
The white men went to sleep in their clothes and with their shoes on. I went to rest in the compound of the same shelter. In this shelter there was Orai, Twai Twai, Achube, Temee and a small boy, Luayo. I did not hear any conversation about killing the white men. When the shots were fired Keree was still at the fire.
When the bodies were carried away only their hats stayed in the camp, the shoes were brought back later by Chenda. I did not go to the fire where the bodies had been taken to, but it was a big fire and I could see it from the campsite. When Rekisang came back she brought with her a package of black hair tied together with bark. Twai Twai and Tammai brought back some fat and the white men’s private parts. Keree did not carry anything back from the fire.
After the killing, I saw Tammai with a watch. At Mothlo-moganyane, Twai Twai told us all to conceal everything and not to talk to anybody about what had happened. This was said in front of Tammai.
Fraenkel started his cross-examination by accusing Toi Toi of previously claiming that he had been beaten by the search party organised by Preston-Whyte after the aeroplane had been discovered:
The search party asked us all for information about the missing white men. I refused to give then any information, but I was not beaten.
The type of parachute pack that Adamson would have worn. (RAF Museum Collection – PC98/173/5885/21)
This suggestion of coercion was to become more important later on, but for the moment Fraenkel was happy to go back to the details around the time of the alleged murder:
We had been at Kuaxaxa a long time, but I cannot count the days we were there. When we found the white men, the tall one was wearing long trousers with black shoes. He had dark hair. The short man had yellow hair and he also had on a pair of shorts with brown shoes. One of the men was wearing a watch, I cannot remember which one. The case they were carrying had metal catches, but I never touched it.
The men slept in their shoes and I remember that they were still wearing them when the bodies were carried away. The fire outside of Twai Twai’s shelter still had some flames, but I was too far away to see the wounds that were inflicted. When the bodies were moved I went to the spot where they had been killed. The case, the hats, and two pieces of material had been left in the shelter – the shoes were not there. The hats had peaks on them.
The description of the hats depended on a lot of translation and eventually by the court asking Toi Toi to pick out a similar hat in the courthouse:
The next morning I left the campsite briefly to collect the donkeys. This was from not far away, about the same distance as the grass outside the courthouse. I did not see the fat being burnt, but I did see the clothes being packed into Twai Twai and Tammai’s bags. I later saw the white material from the suitcase at Kombe, it was enough to make one dress.
Kelly then again kept his questions short, only picking up on a couple of detailed points:
On the morning after the killing I also took the donkeys to get water from the well, this was about 150 yards away from the campsite. Afterwards, I saw Twai Twai with a piece of the white material from the suitcase.
The court then took the opportunity to confirm some of the details from the earlier hearing in Francistown:
Tammai’s Martini Henry rifle was not very reliable. It often had to be taken apart each time it was fired, but this could be done quickly. I did see blood on both sets of clothes brought back from the big fire.
Prosecution Witness – Kico
The final witness of the third day was yet another relative of the main accused, Kico being the niece of Twai Twai. She was a member of the hunting party that had gathered at Kuaxaxa. Her evidence was probably the vaguest of the prosecution witnesses, with very little actually having been seen:
I was not a member of the party that went to look for the white men and only saw the Europeans when they were brought back to the campsite. When they arrived one of the white men was carrying an axe. This was the only thing I saw them carrying.
I was too far away to see the murders clearly, but the tall man stopped struggling after he was hit with the blunt side of the axe. This was Tammai’s axe and was normally kept in the kgotla.
After the murder I saw Tammai and Twai Twai share out the money they had taken from the white men. This happened at Jarie. I did not see any water container. I know I told the District Commissioner at Francistown that I had seen this, but I only did this because I was afraid of the DC. This was the first time I had been in trouble and was scared, but Rekisang had told me what to say.
With this intriguing admission the court was adjourned for the day.
THURSDAY 28 SEPTEMBER
Given the previous day ending with the current witness, Kico, admitting that she had lied under oath at the previous hearing, it was no surprise that this was where Fraenkel started his questioning:
I did not see the water container, but Rekisang said that I should mention this when I was in the court. I told Rekisang that this was not the truth, but I was frightened of District Commissioner. This was the only time I did not tell the truth in Francistown.
Fraenkel then turned to events around the actual killing. Again it proved that the word that was being translated as being asleep could have a range of meanings and, despite several persistent attempts, the defence lawyer could not pin down whether Kico was awake or not at the time of the first shot. Kico appeared to claim to have both been asleep and to have seen Twai Twai fire the first shot. Finally, Fraenkel looked at the issue of the pilots’ clothing:
The two white men were both wearing shorts. When the clothes were shared out I did not see any vests or shoes. I did not see any hats either.
Fraenkel pointed out that Kico had claimed that she had said that she had seen the airmen wearing two different types of hat when they arrived in the camp. Kico responded by saying that she could not remember. Kelly again declined to question this witness and it was left to Ellenberger to ask why Tammai would give the silk from the parachute to Chenda. He also then asked why Kico had lied in Francistown:
The police station opposite the court, where the accused would have spent their breaks. (Botswana Aviation Art)
Tammai gave Chenda the material to make a dress because he always gave everything to Chenda. Rekisang did not tell me to say that I had seen the water container, she only told me to say ‘yes’ if I was asked whether I had seen it. I only did this because I was frightened.
Judge de Beer then walked Kico through all the inconsistencies in her evidence compared with the testimony in the pre-trial hearing in Francistown. Kico claimed that the story told to this court was the correct version of events and that she had been mistaken at Francistown. The judge then worked hard over several questions to establish that Kico was lying down, but not asleep, at the time of the first shot. Once this was apparently settled, the native assessor asked a final question to which Kico responded that she was asleep when the first shot was fired – leaving the court little wiser.
The final prosecution witness was
then called.
Prosecution Witness –
Awekeca Resetora
Awekeca was married to Resetora and was his fourth wife, polygamy being both common and accepted. Resetora was the father of Temee, Toi Toi and Chenda, all of whom were part of the hunting party and heavily implicated in the case. Despite them not being biologically hers, Awekeca considered them to be her children. Awekeca was the only prosecution witness not to have been at the scene of the alleged murder and her story started when the news of the killing reached her:
When we heard about the murder, Resetora said we should go to the children straight away. We went straight to Kombe and there we found Tammai, Matammai, Bene and Chenda. Inside of Tammai’s hut I noticed an axe with a black handle. It was not like a native axe. We stayed one night at Kombe before returning to Nekate. As soon as we got home a police lorry arrived from Kombe and the police took Tammai, Temee, Chenda and Morobe with them. Bene and Matammai were not taken by the police and they came to live in Nekate. Matammai brought the strange axe with her when she came. I know this because Matammai’s hut had collapsed and she was staying in Dambe’s hut while Dambe was away. I saw the black-handled axe hidden in the rafters of Dambe’s hut.
The Kalahari Killings Page 12