Pretoria - The former chief traffic officer of Siyabuswa, east of Pretoria, is facing three charges of murder after his common-law wife and two daughters were shot dead in their beds.
Joseph Selala, 43, pleaded not guilty in the high court in Pretoria to murdering 45-year-old Tlakale Masemola while she was sleeping at her mother’s home. The couple were not living together at the time.
He also denied that he shot dead his daughters Kgomotso, 12, and Tlakale Masemola, 8, while they were sleeping.
The State alleges that on December 6, 2013, Selala fetched the children from their grandmother’s home, to sleep at his house.
It is claimed that he left a suicide note in his bedroom, together with family pictures, in which he allegedly wrote that he intended to kill his wife and two children.
Selala’s stepson, Mohau Masemola, testified that the accused earlier that day brought them food at their grandmother’s home. He left with his two daughters.
Masemola said later that day the accused phoned him a few times to ask whether he knew where his mother was. He said he tried to phone her, but she did not answer.
His mother arrived home later that evening and went to bed, he said. He was awoken early the next morning by the accused, who asked him to open the gate for him.
Masemola said he let the accused into the house and went back to sleep. “After a few minutes I heard a gunshot. I thought it was from outside. I then heard two more shots and I got scared and locked my room. I went back to sleep.”
Masemola said his aunt phoned him later that morning, to ask where his siblings were. She asked him to ask his mother whether she knew of their whereabouts.
“I knocked on my mother’s bedroom door, but she did not answer. I went in and greeted her, but she did not answer. I walked closer and saw blood. I touched her and noticed she was dead. I then saw empty cartridges on the bed.”
Masemola went to fetch his aunt and told her he thought his stepfather had killed his mother. He said he never heard arguments before the shots were fired and he did not hear the accused leave the house.
Another family member, Magdalene Selala, testified that the accused phoned her on the day of the incident and asked her to go to his parental home, where he had left a note in his bedroom.
“He said I had to read the note to his mother and then we had to take the police to his home. He said ‘there you will find two of my children whom I killed. I also killed my wife at her parents’ home’.
“I screamed and he told me to be quiet. He repeated what I had to do before he hung up.”
Selala rushed to the accused’s parental home. She went into his bedroom, where she found an envelope and pictures. She did not read the letter, but rushed to the accused’s own house.
When she got there she was told the children had been found dead in their beds.
Pretoria News