Pretoria - Alleged child killer Ntokozo Hadebe had to be smuggled out of the Diepsloot police station in an armoured vehicle to save him from an angry crowd gathered outside, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Thursday.
The station's commander Colonel Amos Malatse testified that people outside were singing a song with the words “we want to see him” Ä after Hadebe arrived at the police station following his arrest in Alexandra, Johannesburg.
Malatse was testifying in a trial-within-a-trial to determine the admissibility of Hadebe's confession to a magistrate.
In September last year Hadebe allegedly kidnapped, murdered, raped and sodomised five-year-old Anelisa Mkhonto. Just a month later he allegedly did the same to Yonalisa Mali, aged two, and her cousin Zandile, three.
He allegedly kidnapped the girls and took them to his shack, where he raped and killed them before dumping Anelisa's body in garbage bin. The bodies of the cousins were found in a public toilet next to the road.
Malatse testified that he had given instructions that Hadebe must be taken to his office, but when people started coming through the gates, he gave instructions that Hadebe must be smuggled through a window to another office. From there he was put into an armoured vehicle which took him to the Pretoria Central police station.
Malatse denied Hadebe's allegation that he had been assaulted, tortured and electrocuted by policemen at the Diepsloot police station who also told him what to say to the magistrate.
Investigating officer Warrant Officer Makomani Ngobeni denied that Hadebe had ever been assaulted and said he was taken for a doctor's examination before they took him to the magistrate.
Magistrate Carel Kruger testified that Hadebe appeared tense, but was not uncomfortable when he made the confession.
Kruger said Hadebe told him he had not been assaulted or tortured by anyone and he wanted to make the statement himself.
Hadebe had two old scars on his lip and forehead, which he said were caused by attacks with a knife and a bottle long ago, but no other visible injuries.
“It was clear to me that what he was saying to me came from his heart. He had no hesitation in thinking back to what happened and he answered questions spontaneously.
“I asked if he had specific requests and he said maybe it's too early to make any requests. It was fairly hot and we each had a cooldrink. The atmosphere was very relaxed,” he said.
Kruger said he had given Hadebe a chance to report if anything improper happened which might have influenced him and offered to have his complaints investigated. Hadebe said nothing happened.
Counsel for Hadebe put it to Kruger that Hadebe had been tortured and kept quiet about it because he feared further torture.
Captain CP Mitchell of the police's forensic science laboratory testified that Hadebe's DNA matched samples collected from the Mali girls.
Anelisa Mali's body was too decomposed to get a proper sample.
The DNA of all three victims matched blood found on suitcases. Yonalisa's blood was found on a shoe and the DNA of the two cousins matched blood stains on a pillowcase and sheet apparently found in Hadebe's shack.
The trial continues.
Sapa