'Cops forced us to confess'
2008-03-26 20:21
Grahamstown - Two men accused of the murder and robbery of a petrol attendant said in the High Court here on Wednesday that they had been beaten by police with a spade, and "forced to confess to the crimes".
The two appeared before Judge Cecil Somyalo. They are Katiso Mapeyi, 27, and his nephew Ayanda Mapeyi, 19, both from Barkly East.
They are charged with murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances after the death of Johannes Mokoko, 52, at Barkly East Toyota service station, on October 1 2005.
They have both pleaded not guilty and have relied on an alibi defence.
The State alleges the two were part of a gang of four men, who stabbed Mokoko in the neck and robbed him of R1 900 in cash belonging to the garage. The identities of the other men are not known.
At a trial-within-a-trial over the admissibility of a pointing-out at the crime scene, and confessions made to an Elliot-based magistrate, police witnesses denied the two accused were assaulted when they were arrested.
Investigating officer Sergeant Denzil Jacobs, said he arrested the younger Mapeyi on March 9 2006, after receiving information from an informer, who was then being held at the local prison.
"Based on the interview I had with the accused, who voluntarily admitted committing the crimes and implicated his uncle, I then arrested the other accused.
"At no time, were they ever assaulted by either me or any other officers.
Voluntary statements
"Their claims that they were hit on the back and their feet with the flat side of a spade are just nonsense. Such blows would cause serious injury and would be inhuman."
Jacobs said both men made voluntary statements, which he read back to them, and they signed them.
Reservist constable Lwanda Dastile told the court he had acted as a Xhosa-speaking interpreter for Jacobs, both at the prison and during the arrests, and subsequent interrogations.
"They (the accused) were both co-operative at all times, and at no time were they ever assaulted," he said.
Advocates Deon Geldenhuys and Mthuthuzeli Xozwa have been instructed by the Legal Aid Board to defend the two accused.
The trial continues.
- SAPA