One of the men accused of the murder of University of Fort Hare fleet manager Petrus Roets has alleged police beat a confession out of him.
Testifying during a trial-within-a-trial on the admissibility of his admission statement, Wanini Khuza told the East London High Court on Tuesday police assaulted him until he agreed to the allegations they put to him.
Khuza, a former university employee who worked as a driver/protector, Bongani Peter, the university’s chief transport officer, and Sicelo Mbulawa, the owner of Pastiche Car Services, face charges of murdering Roets, conspiracy to murder him and fraud.
They have all pleaded not guilty.
According to the indictment, Peter and Khuza took two university vehicles, a Mercedes-Benz bus and Toyota Corolla, to Mbulawa for repairs in 2021 before his company was registered as a service provider.
Peter later asked Roets to authorise payment to Pastiche for the repairs. Roets refused, asking for the quotations to compare whether the prices were market related.
Roets reported to management that he was investigating possible corruption charges against Peter and Khuza for their allegedly fraudulent involvement with university service providers.
He also reported that he believed his life was in danger after allegedly receiving indirect threats from Peter.
According to the indictment, Peter and Khuza were “rewarded” by Mbulawa for bringing the vehicles to him, but Roets was preventing payment.
It is further alleged the trio planned to kill Roets so they could receive the payment.
They allegedly traced Roets’s home address in Gonubie, East London, and followed his vehicle there but did not approach him that day.
According to the indictment, the three conspired with unknown people to murder Roets, who was gunned down at an intersection leading to Gonubie on May 19 2022.
The hitmen were never arrested.
Three days after Roets was shot, Peter is alleged to have fraudulently authorised Standard Bank to release funds to Mbulawa’s company for the payment Roets had declined to authorise.
The combined invoices amounted to R184,345.58. This amount was inflated by R36,000 to make a total payment of R220,745.58, the indictment says..
Khuza told the court on Tuesday he made a statement to the police after agreeing he would talk when they stopped beating him.
I tried to repeat the words in the warning statement, but I’m not sure it’s the same considering that I was under duress when the warning statement was done.
— Wanini Khuza
The alleged assault happened in Fort Jackson in April 2024 when police arrested him.
He said he was assaulted and threatened that he would be killed and his body dumped where his family would not find it.
He then said what the police wanted him to say in a warning statement.
He signed the warning statement and was told to repeat what he had said in it to a commissioned officer the next day.
“I tried to repeat the words in the warning statement, but I’m not sure it’s the same considering that I was under duress when the warning statement was done.
“For instance, they would put statements alleging I did something and if I denied, they would pinch me until I admitted,” Khuza said.
He told a doctor who completed a form after examining him that his back was aching because he had been assaulted but he did not know why this was not noted.
“Maybe the doctor heard me wrong.”
He said he told the police officer who took a statement from him he had been assaulted.
Khuza opted not to answer on Tuesday when he was asked why this version was not put to the officer when he testified.
His attorney, Kwanele Ntantala, applied to lead evidence of similar facts, saying when Xolani Tom, also a university employee, was taken into custody by the same police officers, he was taken to Fort Jackson where he was also allegedly assaulted.
Ntantala later withdrew the application.
The hearing continues on Wednesday.
Daily Dispatch
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