A State witness who had refused to come to the Durban Regional Court to testify since October  has been arrested after delaying a Chatsworth love triangle murder case on Tuesday morning. 

The eye-witness had previously informed the police that he no longer wished to testify in the murder trial of Paul Pillay. Pillay was allegedly shot by Chatsworth businessman Rahman Abdool Sathar on September 5, 2024, after he confronted him about having an affair with his wife. 

It is alleged that Pillay was shot in front of his son after the heated exchange with Sathar. He later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

Investigating officer Sergeant Ndumiso Khambule told the court on Tuesday that he obtained a warrant of arrest for the witness on December 21, 2025. He detailed his multiple unsuccessful attempts to locate the witness, visiting his home three times and also seeking him at his workplace in Westville. 

Khambule further testified about visiting the Westville offices where the witness is employed. The witness’s boss, however, informed him that the employee was working on-site, not at the office. When Khambule requested the address of the site, the boss declined to provide it, stating that he was not an employee of the South African Police Service. 

Under cross-examination by Sathar’s lawyer, advocate Kuveshni Pillay, Khambule admitted the witness’s reluctance to testify. “The witness has told me before that he does not want to testify.”

State prosecutor Sandiso Ngonyama asked the court to make a ruling and emphasised that the witness was crucial to the murder case as he was there during the incident.

“I ask the court to consider the interest of justice and the family of the deceased. The accused also has a right to have this matter finalised at a reasonable time,” Ngonyama said.

Magistrate F Seedat ordered Khambule to go and hunt the witness down, and said the matter would proceed in the afternoon. When the matter was back in court, Ngonyama told the court that the witness had been apprehended. 

“Police managed to trace the witness. The witness is now in custody,” he said. 

However, Magistrate Seedat explained that due to the time and another matter proceeding in the same court, it was not possible for the evidence of the witness to be heard on Tuesday. 

“It means he will be cross-examined four months down the line,” she said.

She postponed the matter to the end of April for the trial to proceed. 

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za

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