Pretoria - Mmakau resident Onthatile Sebati orchestrated the hit to wipe out her entire family as she allegedly wanted the freedom to go out and enjoy herself.
According to the confession statement made to the police by Tumelo Mokone, one of the alleged hitmen, Sebati complained to him after inviting him on Facebook that her mother was too strict and that she did not have the freedom to go out and enjoy herself.
The statement was read out in the high court in Pretoria by Captain Paulos Dlamini stationed at Mooinooi SAPS who obtained the statement from Mokone shortly after the arrest.
Mokone further alleged that he told Sebati there was nothing she could do about her strict parents and to accept the situation at home however, she allegedly persisted that she wanted her mother to die.
In November 2016, Sebati allegedly contacted Mokone again, this time via the WhatsApp instant messaging app and told him of her failed attempt to put sleeping tablets in the family's food.
"She poured them (sleeping tablets) into the food and the mother smelled a funny odour from the food and instructed her to throw the food out after which the mother cooked food for the family."
He said despite asking her to stop updating him about her "evil plans", in late November his cousin and co-accused, Kagiso alongside Sebati told him all they wanted him to do was to drive the family car.
During his birthday on December 5 2016, Mokone said his cousin told him they could go rob the father of his business funds so they could have something to celebrate with and he claimed he stressed for no one to be harmed.
On the morning of December 6, the two cousins met with Sebati who gave them her father's service pistol which she found hidden in a cupboard.
Around 11pm the trio made their way to the family home, where Mokone said Sebati helped control the family dogs while he stayed behind to open the main gate and start the family car to await his cousin.
He alleged Sebati showed his cousin where the father was and he shot him, and when the mother and sister appeared he then shot them and a younger sibling who was also in the house.
As they were about to make their getaway Sebati allegedly asked for her to be shot in the leg.
The court also heard the confession of Sebati who claimed her family were mistreating her, of which she confided in the two cousins about it.
While the confessions of the two cousins were that Sebati was the mastermind behind the killing of her family, Sebati's version differed in that she alleged that all three of them planned the killings together from the onset.
Sebati alongside cousins Tumelo and Kagiso Mokone are on trial for the murder of Mmakau police constable Solomon Lucky Sebati 41, his wife Mmatshepo 40, 3-year-old Quinton and 18-year-old Tshegofatso, who was seven months pregnant, in their home on December 6 2016.
Pretoria News