Durban - The domestic worker accused of being involved in the murder of her employer, Shakila Singh, during a robbery at her Musgrave home made a 22-page confession to a senior magistrate, but said she was forced into doing so.
Nonjabulo Mteki, 35, told Durban magistrate Mahomed Motala on Wednesday that she had worked for Singh for 12 years and could not understand why she was arrested because she, too, was a victim of the robbery in February, “except I didn’t die”.
Singh, a retired teacher and mother of two, was found bound and gagged on the floor of her home in a secure multi-unit complex.
Mteki along with Ally Juma Abdullah, 39, and Kennedy Amon Ngongi, 28, were arrested. On Wednesday, only Mteki and Abdullah had applied for bail as Ngongi abandoned his bail application.
A fourth person, believed to be Mteki’s husband, is still at large.
Mteki submitted an affidavit in support of her bail application, but also testified.
She told the court the investigating team coerced her into confessing with the promise she would be released.
This was denied by investigating officer, Detective Warrant Officer Rajan Govender, of the Provincial Task Team.
When questioned by prosecutor Danette Cole on her marital status, Mteki said she was unmarried and did not know her co-accused or the fourth person, a foreign national.
When it was put to her that the State could check with the Department of Home Affairs on her marital status, Mteki then admitted to knowing the man, saying she had helped him get citizenship and that she had given him her identity book.
“I don’t know what he did with it,” she testified. “He said he needed a permit.”
Referring to Mteki’s confession, made over two days, Cole told Mteki she was alone in the office with the magistrate when she confessed and that no police were present.
She agreed.
Cole said according to Mteki’s confession, the domestic worker stole the remote for the main gate to the complex and unlocked the kitchen door and gate when Singh’s son, Yash, left for work that morning.
Mteki said she was told by police to say this. When she was asked about the remote, she said she did not know how the men entered the complex.
She claimed the kitchen door was locked when Singh’s son left.
Cole told Mteki her cellphone, stolen during the robbery, was recovered by police, and that the data placed all three accused and Mteki’s husband at the crime scene.
Govender testified that Mteki’s husband had asked her how much jewellery was at the house and she told him she could not differentiate between costume and gold jewellery.
On the evidence against the accused, he said there was cellphone communication, GPRS co-ordinates placing all three and the husband at the scene, Abdullah’s alibi was false and Ngongi and Mteki had told their respective attorneys they wanted to plead guilty.
Mteki and Abdullah’s applications are expected to continue next week.
Daily News