An accountant who is accused of brutally killing his ex-girlfriend claims he cannot remember the incident.
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“His eyes were wild; his legs, arms and hands were moving rapidly. He was completely agitated.”
This was the testimony of a friend of the mother of Nick Longano, 39, who is on trial for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Vinoba Naidoo.
Dale Hasloop, who has a diploma in reflexology and has completed several courses on different types of healing, told the Durban High Court on Monday that when she walked into Longano’s Glenwood flat – the scene of the alleged August 2010 murder – the accused appeared to be in a state of severe psychological shock.
Hasloop said she had only seen pictures of Longano before that in the three years that she and his mother, Gail, had been friends. “I never met Nick but when I walked into the flat and saw him, he looked like a kid, like he was 17 or 18 years old,” she said.
Longano, a Durban accountant, claims he has no recollection of how Naidoo, 35, his girlfriend of eight years, died at the Glenwood flat they once shared.
The State alleges Naidoo was killed as a result of suffocation when Longano stood on her neck. The force of the assault was such that the imprint of his shoe was transferred on to her neck.
Longano is arguing that because of his mental state during the attack, he was incapable of controlling his actions or appreciating their wrongfulness.
He had testified that Naidoo had broken up with him in July 2010 and left their flat. The break-up, along with work stress, had made him severely depressed and suicidal, he had said, adding he was taking prescription medication for the depression and anxiety which had adverse side-effects, including blurred vision, headaches and dizziness.
His mother Gail, testified on Monday that Naidoo’s limp body lay in the flat for half an hour before paramedics were first called.
Gail said she received a call from her son at 5.30pm on the day of the alleged murder and she arrived at the flat 12 minutes later, making her the first person to arrive at the scene.
“I didn’t call 911 because I was in a state of shock. I assumed she was stone dead when he (Longano) told me she wasn’t breathing,” Gail said under cross examination by state advocate Nadira Moosa.
“The call was unbelievable. I could hear it was him on the phone but he was mumbling,” she said. “I heard him say, ‘Vinnie and I had a fight, and she’s not breathing.’ I was absolutely horrified. I asked him to resuscitate her and call 911…”
She said that when she got to the flat she assumed that emergency services were on their way. “It was only after a while that I realised Nick didn’t call. I then called them myself,” she said.
Gail said when she arrived at the flat, she first went to “Vinnie’s” room. “I saw the top of her head. There was a mark on the right side of her forehead and she was lying on the floor, with one shoe off.”
She said she called her daughter Leigh, who had also testified earlier in the trial. In the 15 minutes or so that passed Gail said she made further calls to her friends and her son’s friends for help.
The first call to the paramedics was made at 6.02pm, by Gail, the court heard.
She said she tried the emergency number a few times before she spoke to an operator.
When the paramedics arrived, a group of people including friends of Gail and Longano were already at the flat.
Gail said she sought legal advice from several attorneys on the night of the alleged murder. But during re-examination by Longano’s lawyer Gideon Scheltema SC, she clarified that it was not she who had made the calls to the lawyers, but her daughter.
The trial continues. - Daily News