Pretoria - The investigating officer in the Sebati family murder case has admitted in court that police had no evidence to go with other than the confession statements allegedly made by the accused after their arrest.
Sergeant Benjamin Motaung was testifying in a trial within a trial on the admissibility of confession statements allegedly made by the three accused following their arrests in 2021.
Onthatile Sebati, charged with ordering a hit on her entire family when she was 16 years old, appeared in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, yesterday alongside her co-accused and the alleged hit men, cousins Kagiso and Tumelo Mokone.
Motaung, said to be the investigating officer who took over the case after the original investigating officer Colonel Isaac Tlhapi died, testified that by the time Sebati was due to appear in court on December 19, 2021, police had no other evidence to go with aside from the “confession” statements.
He admitted during cross-examination that although police had arrested Sebati on December 16, by the time the 48-hour period was due to expire police had only the confession statements allegedly obtained from the accused after their arrest.
As with the other witnesses, the officer stressed that they had read out the constitutional rights of the accused prior to taking their statements.
Legal counsel for Sebati stressed that she would take the stand to testify that after her arrest she was taken out of their cell against her will on December 17, 2021, at about 6.45pm and forced to point out the other accused in the matter.
The State said it was closing its case, with the legal counsel for all three accused indicating that they would state their case against the submission of the alleged confessions.
Advocate Nelson Khoza, legal counsel for Kagiso, requested time to consult with the accused as to whether or not he was to take the stand and if he was to call the advocate who allegedly handed him over.
Sebati is alleged to have hired the Mokones to murder her police officer father Lucky, her mother Mmatshepo, her 3-year-old brother Quinton, and her pregnant sister Tshegofatso. The family members were gunned down at their home in Mmakau, Brits in December 2016.
The trial within a trial started after the legal counsel for the accused challenged the admissibility of the confessions submitted by the State, arguing that their constitutional rights had been violated by the police.
Sebati alleged her legal rights were not explained to her and that she had been coerced into making the confession to the police.
Through her legal counsel, she alleged she had been misled by the police officers who took down her statement.
One of the Mokone cousins also told the court that his alleged confession was obtained in the absence of his legal representative; neither was he given an opportunity to consult with a lawyer prior to the statements being taken from him.
The other Mokone alleged he was assaulted by officers in a minibus taxi upon his arrest and then forced to confess to playing a role in the crime.
The matter was rolled over to today for the defence counsel to lead their case.
Pretoria News