Durban - A MAN accused of the horrific murder of a Durban jockey has to wait to find out whether the court will admit his confession that he wants struck off as evidence.
Alfred Matimane, 34, is accused of killing Durban-born jockey Hughes Rakeel Dharampal at the Turfontein Racecourse. Dharampal’s charred remains were found at a Johannesburg dump site.
Hughes, 20, could be seen on CCTV footage entering Matimane’s room, before he went missing for five days.
On Thursday, Matimane wanted the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court to discard a statement in which he confessed to the murder.
Prosecutor Takalani Mahune argued that his statement should be taken in as evidence. He argued that he knew his rights before engaging with the statement.
“The accused was not forced to speak. He was told by the investigating officer of his rights. What is also important to remember is that he gave details spontaneously. He was not threatened or put under any sort of pressure,” Mahune said.
The statement only details that the murder was committed in self-defence. It does, however, not give any further information on what caused the altercation between the two men.
Language was another topic of contention as the defence argued that the investigating officer in the case spoke Zulu while Matimane spoke Pedi.
Magistrate Susan Botha said the matter would sit again on September 26 when the investigating officer would appear and a decision be made on whether to admit the statement as evidence.
Phumelela Gaming spokesperson Danie Toerien confirmed that Matimane was dismissed at the beginning of 2018.
“Phumelela did contribute financially to Hughes Dharampal’s funeral,” he said.
Toerien said that Phumelela would not be commenting further on the case.
Hughes’s father Ashwin Dharampal said his son was brutally attacked at the Turfontein racecourse in broad daylight at 4pm.
He said his son’s limp body was put into a bathtub and dragged to the car park where it was alleged that Matimane had his car parked and loaded the body into the boot, apparently without anyone noticing.
He said CCTV footage from the racecourse showed Hughes entering Matimane’s room on the day he had died.
The car was apparently driven out of the racecourse without security checking the boot “as per procedure at all other companies”.
“At some point during the trial it came out that my son was unconscious when he was moved to where he was set alight with a tyre. Had security opened that boot, my son could still be alive,” Dharampal said.
He said that three weeks ago he heard the news of University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana’s murder and later heard how the accused, a Post Office employee, told the court she had given him a hard time and took a while to die.
“It made me think of my son’s gruesome murder, and when I heard that the accused in the Uyinene matter had a previous conviction it angered me,” he said.
The family could only speculate at this point when it came to the reasons behind his son’s murder, he said.