News24.com | Mihalik murder trial resumes with hired car in the spotlight

• The Pete Mihalik murder trial resumed with questioning over one of the accused's rental car. 
• Vuyile Maliti said he hired the car for his weekend activities, which included attending a jazz festival. 
• He denied using the VW Polo for Mihalik's murder. 

The Pete Mihalik murder trial resumed on Tuesday in the Western Cape High Court with testimony from one of the accused about his very busy weekend before the killing he is accused of. 

Vuyile Maliti returned to the witness box, with his co-accused Sizwe Biyela and Nkosinathi Khumalo having their turn to watch from the dock. 

They all pleaded not guilty to murdering Mihalik on 30 October 2018, while he was on his way to drop his children off at school in Green Point. 

The trial picked up with evidence of Maliti's weekend of moving and shaking on the weekend before Mihalik's murder in a VW Golf he booked online and collected from Avis on 27 October. 

Prosecutor Greg Wolmarans accused him of hiring the car specifically to carry out Mihalik's murder. 

"I don't know how he can come to that," said Maliti. 

READ | I was actually running a gold con right then, says taxi owner accused of killing lawyer Pete Mihalik

"If he can check, I took motor vehicles before then, My Lady, and nobody died."

The court heard that the car had been used for a very busy weekend, which included attending a jazz festival in Khayelitsha and picking up two coin dealers from Durban, who he has said he intended to scam. 

On Tuesday, Maliti testified that the last time he had seen the car was when he dropped it off at a panel beater who spray painted a section he had bumped, so that he would not have to pay excess to the rental company when he returned the vehicle. The first inkling of problems was when his wife called him to say the police had visited his parents' home, looking for him.

The trial continues. 

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