Police 'forced me to confess'

2007-12-06 18:46

Scottburgh - A man accused of murdering an Austrian footballer on a KwaZulu-Natal south coast golf course claimed he was assaulted by police and forced to confess to the murder.

Thokozisi Msani, 25, who is accused along with his 21-year-old brother Simo Msani of robbing and shooting the 43-year-old Peter Burgstaller on November 23 told the Scottburgh Magistrate's Court that when police came to arrest him a day later they "throttled him and he was still having problems hearing".

He also claimed that police had "sellotaped my eyes".

The two brothers, who were applying for bail, deny killing and robbing Burgstaller.

"I would be lying if I ever said that I killed somebody," said Thokozisi Msani. He was arrested on November 24, and was charged in the Umzinto Magistrate's Court for the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.

State prosecutor Rakesh Kashupersad successfully applied to have the Umzinto Court charges joined with the murder and robbery charges that Msani faces in Scottburgh.

Burgstaller arrived at the Selbourne Estate on November 23 at about 15:00.

Barely three hours later a security guard found Burgstaller's body on the 12th tee of the Estate's golf course.

Thokoszisi told the court that on the Friday afternoon that Burgstaller was killed he was chopping wood in the bushes in preparation for a wedding.

Finding the crime scene

He told the court that as he was chopping wood he found a cellphone that had no sim card or battery.

When he returned to his home at about 15:00, about five kilometres from the Selbourne Estate, he gave the cellphone to his brother Simo.

Kashupersad told the court that police had established that Burgstaller had made an international call from his cellphone, a Nokia 9300 Communicator.

"How could you be with this phone at 15:00 when the deceased was making a call at 16:15?" Kashupersad asked Msani.

"It (the call) was made from Selbourne Estate."

Msani also told the court that he had not pointed out the crime scene to police. He said security guards at the Selbourne Estate had pointed out the crime scene to the police.

"They could see that I did not know where it happened."

Msani went on to tell the court that police forced him to hold a semiautomatic pistol in his hand before "an officer lifted it up with a stick and put it into a plastic bag".

- SAPA