Clinton Nassif had lied about being asleep when mining magnate Brett Kebble was killed, Glenn Agliotti’s defence counsel, Laurance Hodes, said in the South Gauteng High Court on Wednesday.

Hodes was continuing his cross-examination of Nassif.

“You said you went to sleep and awoke when your wife told you Glenn’s wife was on the phone at 21:00 hours. That can never be true. Your telephone records show that you were talking on your phone before 9pm. Do you talk in your sleep?” said Hodes.

Hodes then read out Nassif’s phone records, which showed he had received a call at 8.45pm and then at 8.59pm.

While Nassif said he found out about Kebble’s death for the first time from Agliotti, Hodes said this would have been impossible, because Nassif arrived on the scene “20 minutes before Agliotti”.

Hodes said Agliotti was far closer to the murder scene than Nassif.

“When the accused found out about the shooting for the first time, he was told by a reservist called Robert Van de Merwe,” said Hodes.

“He was told there’d been a shooting in the vicinity of the Wilds in Killarney. Then he drove via the deceased’s house to ensure that he wasn’t there and then only to Killarney. If he was in on the plan and knew the exact location, why would he go to the deceased’s house, and why go to the wrong place? It must be, sir, that he wasn’t involved in the planning if he goes to the wrong place.”

Hodes went on to say, “I want to ask you — if the accused was already in Killarney, close to Melrose, and he telephoned you, can you tell me how you would have gotten from Glenvista in the south, all the way to Melrose, 20 minutes ahead of him. He was in the northern suburbs already. No matter how fast and fancy your car was, that is impossible.”

Nassif is the fifth witness in the murder trial of Kebble, which began last Monday.

Agliotti has pleaded not guilty to four charges — the murder of Kebble and conspiracy to murder Kebble, the attempted murder of former Allan Gray chief investment officer Stephen Mildenhall, and conspiracy to murder Mildenhall and mining bosses Danie Nortier, Mark Bristow and Mark Wellesley-Wood.

The M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism, supported by M&G Media and the Open Society Foundation for South Africa, produced this story.www.amabhungane.co.za.