Pistorius Trial: Witness Timelines 7 (Michael and Eontle Nhlengethwa)

Michael and Eontle Nhlengethwa: house to the left of Pistorius facing front door

His bedroom is located at about 25 meters from Pistorius’ bedroom balcony, facing out on the same side as Oscar’s bathroom window, to the back of the house over a green.  

The windows and blinds were closed.  The blinds are wooden blinds that close horizontally.

Mr. Nhlengethwa and his wife went to bed at around 22:00-23:00.  

Mrs. Nhlengethwa was awakened by a very loud bang.  It was so loud she thought it might actually have been in the house.

She woke up her husband.  

He went to his daughter’s and son's rooms and checked the doors to see if they were still locked.

They always locks the kids’ doors when they go to bed.

They always leave some faint lights on in the upstairs hall at night.

He then went to check other room and doors around the house.   

He found nothing.

He went back to the bedroom and said “There’s nothing in the house, so it means it’s outside”.

He tried to peer through the crack in the blinds, but saw nothing special.

Then they heard a man crying very loud. 

Mrs. Nhlengethwa imitated this crying with an extremely loud howl.

She described it as high-pitched but definitely a male voice.

"This was not normal crying but crying from being in danger, needing help."  

"The cry that we heard was a person desperate for help.  Probably in danger." 

They "went into shock mode", knew something was very wrong. 

They thought it was something had happened to the security guard outside or to a neighbor.

At that moment they were not sure where the voice was coming from.

While peeking through the blinds, he did not turn the bedroom light on, because he did not like the idea that a criminal outside could notice it and think “there’s someone looking through the blinds at me”.

Mrs. Nhlengethwa stated were words in the crying, “please, no, please, no”. 

The crying continued on and on.

Mrs. Nhlengethwa also heard a man's voice shouting loudly "Help, help, help".

Mr. Nhlengethwa did not hear this.  (May have been checking out the house at that point.)

Mr. Nhlengethwa said to his wife “I should go out”.

She said “I don’t allow you to go out there’s no way”. 

So he said “if something’s happening to my neighbor I can’t just sit here and relax”.

So they agreed that he should phone security.

He called at 3:16:30 but it was engaged. 

He dialed again at 3:16:36 and made a call that lasted 44 seconds.

He said “I’m Michael, I’m at 287, there’s a man near here desperate for help, please come this way and quickly check the homes around me.”

He couldn't say whether there was crying during the phone call, but after the phone call there was still crying.   

He then checked through the windows and heard the sound of a car.   

He thought it must be security and checked through the blinds.

He saw the "bakkie" (van) from security parked across the green at the back of his house where the bedroom window looked out.

The security people were talking to another neighbor from the balcony (the Stipps).

He said to his wife, “There’s a problem in that house”. 

But after a minute the bakkie went out of the driveway and up the street to the left.

It was followed by the white car from that house (Stipp driving to Pistorius' house).

Mr. Nhlengethwa realized the problem was not at that house, but closer to his.

He went into a study that faces the street front of the house and kept watching.

He saw the cars park, and said “It’s in Oscar’s house or the one opposite him”.   

He decided that at this point it would be safe for him to go out.

He went up to the bedroom, told his wife that it was Oscar or the house opposite, and that he can’t just go back to sleep, now he has to go out.   

He got dressed and went over to Oscar’s house.

When he went out, he switched on the ground floor lights of his house. But there were already dim lights on upstairs.

He started walking to Oscar’s house. 

He saw the bakkie and the white car and heard the crying that was still going on, with a somewhat lower voice, but still crying.   

He saw Mr. Stander in the street there and talked to him. 

Asked “is Oscar okay”?   

Mr. Stander said “he’s okay but go check yourself”.   

He went to the front door and saw Oscar kneeling next to the lady who was lying on the floor, he was just crying. 

The gentleman (Stipp) was inside the house and Oscar was asking him to help, pleading with him.   

The situation was bad and Mr. Nhlengethwa could not even bear to step farther into the house or to see what he was seeing.   

He saw Oscar saying “please help, help me, help me”.   

The lady was still lying there.

Then paramedics arrived with a stretcher.   

Mr. Nhlengethwa helped them go in with the stretcher. 

He helped them open the second panel of the front door which was similar to his own.   

He stayed about 10 minutes longer.

There was nothing he could do so he went back home.