Durban - A confession admitted by the Durban High Court on Friday in the murder trial of 9-year-old Shahiel Sewpujun, despite his mother’s aunt protest that she made it under duress, revealed that Shahiel was killed because he was”naughty” and”did not listen”.
High Court Judge Dhaya Pillay allowed the confession detailing Shahiel’s death.
Rajwantie Haripersadh, 54, Shahiel’s mother’s aunt, said the confession contained in the statement had been made under threat of physical assault by officers from the Phoenix SAPS and therefore wanted it excluded from court records.
Haripersadh and her daughter, Kavitha Naiker, who shared their Phoenix home with Shahiel and his mother, are accused of murdering the Clayhaven Primary School Grade 4 pupil on February 5 last year as he prepared to go to school.
The statement revealed that Shahiel had just stepped out of the bathroom when Naiker, wearing yellow gloves and with a chisel in hand, jumped on him and hit him on his head, a blow that led to Shahiel falling on a blue sleeper couch in their home.
Naiker proceeded to sit on the youngster and suffocated him with her gloved hands around his mouth, as Haripersadh watched.
Haripersadh claimed she did not say much to police officers and had no idea what they had written because they did not read the statement back to her.
The confession was allowed as part of a trial-within-a-trial on its admissibility on Friday.
It revealed an elaborate plan to murder Shahiel. The statement also revealed that Haripersadh and Naiker had planned in the last week of January last year to kill him, but this was set back a few days because Shahiel’s mother was off work and his stepfather was also around.
“On Thursday, 5 February, 2015, we decided to carry out our plan since no one was around,” Haripersadh said.
After Naiker attacked Shahiel, the pair then taped him around his mouth and nose and then held his head down until he stopped breathing.
“Kavitha then took off the child’s clothes and we put him in a black bin packet. We then put him in a black suitcase and thereafter in a Tweety bag before taking the bag to the lounge,” Haripersadh said.
According to the statement, the duo then threw Shahiel’s school books and clothes into a river in Stonebridge (Unit 4) and left the bag with his body under a tree in Charclay Road that morning.
The mother and daughter then went home and had lunch and slept.
Haripersadh said that when Shahiel’s mother returned home that evening, she enquired about Shahiel’s whereabouts and they said they did not know where he was.
Haripersadh then accompanied Shahiel’s mother to the house of a classmate of Shahiel’s who told them that he had not been at school that day.
“We (Haripersadh and Naiker) waited until it got darker.
“At around 9.30pm, Kavitha pulled the bag towards the manhole. Kavitha opened the bag, took out the child and pushed him into the manhole, whilst I stood and kept watch over the roads,” Haripersadh revealed.
The case continues.
Daily News