Snapshot · Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder
On February 21, 2010, nine inmates including Taki attempted a bedsheet-rope escape from Westville Prison; eight succeeded while Taki fell, shattered his leg, and was recaptured.
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At 45:40 · chapter starts 39:55
The trial opened in July 2008 at the High Court in Ramsgate and would not conclude for two and a half years. From day one, Taki denied everything, portraying himself as a legitimate job-placement middleman who had never set foot near the killing grounds. The pace of proceedings was glacially slow, partly by design: testimony required triple-language translation — isiXhosa to isiZulu to English — for every question, answer, and objection. The state's case rested on cell phone records, identity parades where every witness immediately picked Taki out, the handwritten victims' list, and the pointing-out visits. Two 'trials within a trial' were held: one challenging the victims' list (Taki claimed he was coerced into copying a pre-made document; the judge dismantled this by pointing to misspellings inconsistent with copying), and one challenging the pointing-out (Taki claimed police had beaten him; every officer denied it under cross-examination and not one cracked). A fabricated alibi — placing him in the Eastern Cape during one of the murders, backed by a relative — was also dismissed as invented. Throughout, Taki appeared in a navy suit, tracking arguments in real time and passing strategy notes to his lawyer — striking, the judge noted, for a man who had barely finished Grade 4.
The trial called 103 witnesses and required three-language interpretation — isiXhosa to isiZulu to English — stretching proceedings over 2.5 years.
On February 21, 2010, Taki and eight other inmates knotted their bedsheets and went over the side of Westville Prison. He slipped, shattered his leg, and was the only one left behind while eight others escaped into the night.
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