![Onthatile Sebati [middle] has appeared in court, accused of masterminding the brutal murder of her parents and her two siblings in 2016. Photo: Screengrab/Newzroom Afrika](https://image-prod.iol.co.za/16x9/1600/Onthatile-Sebati-middle-has-appeared-in-court-accused-of-masterminding-the-brutal-murder-of-her-parents-and-her-two-siblings-in-2016-Photo-Screengrab-Newzroom-Afrika?source=https://xlibris.public.prod.oc.inl.infomaker.io:8443/opencontent/objects/2d6f4287-107e-59ba-99ec-4d1ca3eaf164&operation=CROP&offset=0x2&resize=739x415)
Pretoria – The trial of Onthatile Sebati, who was 16 when she allegedly ordered a hit which had her parents, and her siblings brutally murdered is set to continue on Wednesday.
On Monday, Onthatile appeared in the High Court in Pretoria, alongside the hitmen she allegedly hired, Kagiso Mokone and Tumelo Mokone. The Mokones are cousins.
The matter was postponed on Monday because Tumelo did not have legal representation. The court heard that Tumelo has not paid his lawyer, therefore the legal representative had not showed up at court.
In January, the three were granted R10 000 bail. The Mokones have paid the bail but Onthatile reportedly remains in custody as no one paid her bail.
The three are facing four counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of a firearm, possession of ammunition and theft.
Onthatile, only 16 in 2016, allegedly hired hitmen to kill her parents and siblings in Mmakau, east of Brits. Her father, Constable Sello Sebati, was attached to the Hebron police station.
Previously, Gauteng regional spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Lumka Mahanjana, said Onthatile was the only survivor when her family was wiped out in a hail of bullets.
“It alleged that [Onthatile] Sebati went outside to dispose of water and she heard gunshots inside the house. A 42-year-old father, a 40-year-old mother, a 19-year-old pregnant sister and a 6-year-old brother were all shot dead,” said Mahanjana.
According to police, Onthatile claims she rushed to investigate, but the gunmen allegedly shot her in the thigh and fled the scene with the family car, a Chrysler Voyager.
She then alerted neighbours, who informed the police. The police found the bodies of her father, her mother Mmatshepo Sebati, 41, her sister Tshegofatso, 22, and younger brother Quinton, 6, in a pool of blood. Tshegofatso was seven months’ pregnant. The unborn baby also died.
The Chrysler Voyager was later found abandoned in the bushes at Black Rock Section, Mmakau.
Onthatile and her two co-accused were arrested on December 17 and 18, 2021, after she handed herself to police and allegedly confessed to being behind her family’s killing.
The alleged hitmen were arrested in Brits and Soshanguve, respectively.
IOL