Not me, muti murder accused claims
2011-06-14 22:30
Pretoria - Alleged muti killer Brian Mangwale on Tuesday told the High Court in Pretoria he had nothing to do with the murder of Soshanguve schoolgirl Masego Kgomo.
Mangwale, 29, said Kgomo had been playing with some of his siblings on the morning of December 31 2009 and that he had last seen her when she brought him cooldrink he had asked her to buy.
He had known Kgomo for about two years, and used to see her when she played with his siblings after school in the afternoons. Mangwale said he had first asked his siblings to buy him a drink, but they refused because they were playing.
He then offered whoever went to buy him cooldrink the change from the purchase. Kgomo offered to go.
Mangwale insisted he went into his shack, closed the door and slept for the whole of the afternoon after Kgomo left.
He said he wanted to rest so he could attend a New Year's Eve party later that night, and that his mother woke him up around 19:00. When Kgomo went missing, Mangwale said he helped her family and local residents search for her that night and the rest of the week.
He accompanied Masego's mother to the police station and later went back there a few times. He was questioned, but police never took a statement from him.
Then he claimed they tortured him.
Mangwale said he lied to the police when he said he would show them where the child was.
A police witness earlier testified that Mangwale willingly pointed out the little girl's decomposed body, where it lay hidden in the veld near the Soshanguve railway station.
The State previously handed in statements in which Mangwale gave various versions about the murder.
The trial continues on Friday.
- SAPA
