Kritzinger 'admired' top cop
2003-04-30 12:21
Pretoria - De Wet Kritzinger, who has admitted killing three black people on a bus in 2000, had the highest regard for the police officer who investigated his case, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday.
Captain Bennie de Beer read this to the court from a card sent to him by Kritzinger's mother, Ryna, in July last year. Kritzinger had been arrested the previous month.
"Dear Bennie," it said, "On behalf of De Wet and his sisters I would like to thank you for being such a decent human being. De Wet is full of appreciation and admiration for you."
De Beer was testifying in a trial-within-a-trial to test the admissibility as evidence of an admission Kritzinger had made to him.
The defence contends Kritzinger was not told his constitutional rights before he told De Beer certain things.
The rights included the presence of a lawyer if he wanted it, and knowing that anything he said could be used against him as evidence in court.
De Beer, however, testified that he and two other policemen had on different occasions explained Kritzinger's rights to him.
After De Beer had done that, he had asked inspector Francois Moller, who was with him, to make a note to this effect in his diary. Kritzinger signed that entry, De Beer said.
Moller confirmed this in his testimony.
The trial continues.
- SAPA