State lines up 30 witnesses in Portlands sisters murder trial

The State intends to call 30 witnesses in the Western Cape High Court trial of Ederees Smith and Nazmie Lekay, accused of the double murder of sisters Zainab Jacobs and Gouwah Smith Newman outside Portlands Primary School in Mitchells Plain on 6 November 2025.

The witness list, set out in a High Court indictment, includes police investigators, forensic and ballistics experts, medical and pathology personnel, social services officials and private witnesses connected to events before and after the shooting. Their names are not being published.

As IOL reported on 20 September 2026, the indictment provides the fullest account yet of the State’s case. The Enquirer has not independently obtained the document and reports the allegations as the State puts them. They remain untested and must be proven at trial.

What the State alleges

Smith and Lekay face two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and allegations that they acted with a common purpose. Smith also faces charges under the Children’s Act and firearm legislation. The indictment further includes allegations of defeating or obstructing the administration of justice.

The State alleges the shooting followed a continuing dispute over the care of Smith’s minor children. Proceedings were under way in the Mitchells Plain Children’s Court before the shooting, and on 3 November 2025 that court allegedly ordered that two of the children remain in the care of Jacobs.

Three days later, the State alleges, Smith waited near Portlands Primary School before attacking a vehicle carrying Jacobs, Smith Newman and children. The indictment alleges he approached the vehicle, demanded Jacobs’ cellphone and opened fire. Jacobs, already wounded, allegedly fled but was pursued and shot several more times before collapsing. Smith Newman was allegedly shot at close range while still seated in the vehicle. Both women died.

A school pupil and an adult bystander were also shot and wounded, according to the State. Their names are being withheld because one is a minor.

The indictment alleges that after the shooting Lekay drove Smith and children from the scene and later helped conceal a firearm and a cellphone, and that steps were taken to evade police and frustrate the investigation.

Smith was arrested shortly after the shooting. Lekay was alleged to have been the driver of a getaway vehicle. He was denied bail in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court after it found he had not established exceptional circumstances for release. He has maintained that his presence near the shooting was coincidental.

Where the case now stands

The matter has been transferred from the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court to the Western Cape High Court. A pre-trial conference is scheduled for 13 November 2026, after which a trial date is expected to be determined.

For residents of Mitchells Plain, the case has moved into the court’s slowest lane. High Court matters in the Western Cape are heard in Cape Town, and a trial of this size, with 30 witnesses spanning police, forensic, medical and social services evidence, is unlikely to be resolved in a single sitting. Pre-trial conferences deal with the administrative groundwork: disclosure of the docket, admissions between the parties, the availability of expert witnesses and any legal points to be argued before evidence begins.

The Children’s Court proceedings that preceded the shooting are separate from the criminal trial, though the indictment draws directly on them to establish the alleged motive. That is a reminder of how family law disputes can migrate into the criminal courts, and of the pressure that places on the social services officials now listed as witnesses.

The two accused are presumed innocent. Nothing in the indictment has been tested in court, and the State carries the burden of proving each count beyond reasonable doubt. The Enquirer will report on the pre-trial conference when it takes place.