THE defence in the Port Elizabeth High Court murder trial of three Uitenhage men and a woman, who allegedly assaulted and burnt a man to death, applied for their clients to be discharged yesterday.

Luvuyo Fose, 32, Ntsikelelo Klaas, 23, Mzoxolo Banga, 33, and Ntombikayise Jantjies, 28, all of KwaNobuhle, are accused of killing Likhaya Salaze, 32, by first assaulting him with knobkieries, fists, knives and a plank of wood before burning the man to death on September 30, 2007.

All four have pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Their lawyers, Robin O’Brien, James Riley, Khaya Saziwa and advocate Kobus Brisley, asked Judge Dayalan Chetty yesterday to reject the evidence of the two state witnesses who had testified.

Riley, appearing for Fose, said Ntombozuko Mangaliso’s evidence had been “riddled with inconsistencies.

“She was lying. Her evidence can be viewed as unreliable.”

Brisley said there were also contradictions in the evidence of the state witnesses.

“Their evidence cannot be found to be reasonably true,” Brisley told the court.

Saziwa told Judge Chetty that his client, Banga, said he had an alibi, while the evidence submitted earlier that he had been carrying a plank of wood with blood on it was a “fabrication”.