Durban - One of the three men who allegedly killed Underberg farmer Dan Knight last October said on Monday that he had been assaulted by police and made to sign a statement that he had not read and knew nothing about.
Tsepiso Ramonyane, 20, told the Pietermaritzburg High Court that he had been arrested on October 20.
He is on trial with Bonginkosi Nyawose, 33, and Happy Gcina, 24, in connection with Knight’s murder on October 17.
Ramonyane is testifying in a “trial within a trial”, after which Judge Jerome Mnguni has to decide whether his and Nyawose’s “confessions” may be admitted as evidence.
Both men have alleged they were assaulted and made to sign confessions without knowing their contents.
Ramonyane said he was assaulted with a firearm and a torch when he was arrested.
“I was assaulted until I fainted.”
When he was taken to the police station, he told a policeman that he had been assaulted. The policeman “didn’t do anything”.
His rights had not been read to him when he was told to sign the document, Ramonyane said.
He was asked several times “who killed the white person and where the firearms were”.
He did not know what the police were talking about, he said.
The trial continues.
The Mercury