Pretoria - A 20-year-old woman from Mmakau, Brits accused of allegedly hiring two hitmen to wipe out her entire family in 2016 has pleaded not guilty to the crime.
The woman appeared in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria earlier today alongside the two alleged "hitmen" and co-accused who also pleaded not guilty to all of the charges levelled against them.
According to the state the trio is facing four counts of murder, one count of theft, another charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances, unlawful possession of a firearm as well as unlawful possession of ammunition.
Following the plea, the state called in its first witness, Warrant Officer William Mashaba a retired officer from Mmakau police station who attended the scene of the crime on December 6 2016.
According to the officer, he received a call to attend to the scene and upon arrival found a man, he knew and had mentored, lying face down in a pool of blood.
Upon further inspection of the house, he said they found a woman lying on the bed in a face-up position also in a pool of blood.
In another bedroom, they found a woman seated on the floor at the edge of the bed with a child close by her also in a pool of blood.
The warrant officer said in the same bedroom with the woman and the child, there was a boy believed to be 6-years-old sitting on the bed who was unharmed.
Following that he said they cordoned off the scene, removed the bystanders and called in the relevant stakeholders which included paramedics, the detective and officers on standby, as well as photographic and fingerprint experts.
Mashaba said all the persons in the house were declared dead on the scene by the paramedics, and that he also had to be attended to as he was overwhelmed due to the fact that he had a relationship with the deceased male.
After the testimony of Mashaba was concluded the state notified the court that it intended to lead evidence with regard to statements and confessions allegedly obtained from all of the accused.
This attempt was disputed by legal counsel for the accused who indicated that their client's constitutional rights had been violated and that one of the accused hitmen had allegedly been assaulted by the police to make the statements and confessions.
The state requested that a joint trial within a trial be held in order to thrash out the admissibility of the statements.
The matter was adjourned for lunch with proceedings to commence with the trial-within-a-trial after the break.
Pretoria News