Hijacker tells how family died
2004-06-01 16:38
Pretoria - William Kekana, 19, pleaded guilty in Temba Circuit Court on Tuesday to 10 counts including four charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and the rape of a 17-year-old girl.
On Monday, Kekana pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges against him, but after a meeting with his defence counsel, advocate Janus Roothman, changed his plea to guilty on the majority of charges.
However, he denied the killing of one-year-old Kayla Rawstone, the murder and rape of her mother, Janine Drennan, 24, or the murder of Kayla's grandmother, Hester Rawstone, 52.
In a statement made to detectives shortly after his arrest on August 13 2003, Kekana said his co-accused, Charles Fido Baloyi, who was shot dead during his arrest, was responsible for those crimes.
The court heard how Kekana and Baloyi forced Kayla, Drennen and Rawstone into the family's car at gunpoint as the family left the Union Park Gate Building in Sunnyside on July 31 2003, after a night out at a nearby restaurant to celebrate Kayla's first birthday.
Thrown out of the car
Kekana's defence counsel on Tuesday read out his statement which detailed the hours leading up to the murders.
The statement told how Rawstone was the first to die when she was shot in the neck by Baloyi in the back of the car.
"He shot her when she answered the phone," the court heard. She was thrown out of the car on the Hebron Road north of Pretoria.
The statement detailed how Baloyi drove towards Stinkwater and kidnapped a 17-year-old girl in town after Kekana held her and her boyfriend at gunpoint.
They forced her into the car and drove towards an open veld where, Kekana told detectives, he raped the girl while Baloyi raped "the white woman".
"I raped the black woman and Charles the white woman. Then Charles shot the white woman and the child and I shot the black woman," read Kekana's declaration.
Post-mortem results showed that Drennen had 14 bullet holes in her body, 10 of them entrance wounds.
Kayla was shot twice - "Once between the eyes at close range and once in the chest".
Rawstone died as a result of a gunshot wound to the neck which tore "major arteries".
The 17-year-old who was left for dead after being shot in the head, allegedly by Kekana, managed to walk to her boyfriend's house and called the police.
Gave evidence in camera
She was later admitted to Jubilee Hospital and is still in police protection.
She later identified Kekana as one of her attackers and gave evidence in camera on Tuesday afternoon.
Judge Monica Leeuw accepted Kekana's plea and found him guilty on 10 charges relating to the rape of the 17-year-old, her attempted murder, the kidnapping of the three women and baby, robbery with aggravating circumstances, pointing of a firearm, the possession of the unlicensed weapon and the possession of unlicensed ammunition.
The trial will continue on Wednesday.
- SAPA