Steve Biko was a key defence witness in the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO)/Black People's Convention (BPC) trial which ran from 31 January 1975 to 21 December 1976.

There were nine of us on trial: Saths Cooper, Muntu Myeza, Mosioua ‘Terror’ Lekota, Nchaupe Aubrey Mokoape, Pandelani Nefolovhodwe, Nkwenkwe Nkomo, Kaborone ‘KK’ Sedibe, Zithulele Cindi and Strini Moodley.

Steve would have been the first witness if he had been in Pretoria when the defence case opened in April 1976 but this lover of life itself, who felt severely confined in King William's Town's Ginsberg township, where he was banned and house arrested, chose to drive rather than fly the hundreds of kilometres to Pretoria.

The long drive gave him a degree of freedom to deviate along the way and travel through many magisterial districts between King William's Town and Pretoria, which he would otherwise not have been able to do. Typically, he chose to defy the terms of his banning order and not to apply for permission from the chief magistrate of King William's Town before leaving. He relied on the knowledge that the police dared not prevent him from appearing before Judge Boshoff at the ‘Palace of Justice’.

So it was that Rick Turner, a political science lecturer at the University of Natal, became the first defence witness in the historic trial. He had a torrid time. Saths Cooper, the first accused, was in the witness stand for about a week, and then Steve took the stand.

The assistant prosecutor, Kevin Attwell, had the unfortunate task of cross-examination and, time after time, proved to be no match for Steve's formidable intellect. John Rees, the Deputy Attorney-General, who was chief prosecutor, either underestimated Steve's importance or anticipated that in the cut and thrust in court Steve would not emerge intact.

Count One on the charge sheet alleged that the accused: