21 year old Sifiso Mkhwanazi appeared before the Johannesburg High Court sitting at The Palm Ridge magistrate court, Mkhwanazi is facing six counts of murder, seven of rape and several other chargers, this follows the discovery of six sex workers. Picture: Itumeleng English/ Independent Newspaper.
The trial of 21-year-old Sifiso Mkhwanazi, accused of allegedly murdering six sex workers, has been delayed until Wednesday.
This postponement is to accommodate the defence, which intends to submit a 174-page application seeking a reconsideration of some charges against him.
Mkhwanazi is currently facing six counts of murder.
On Monday, the court heard from the investigating officer, Bongani Mbonambi, who stood by his version that the six murders were premeditated as a ploy by the accused to avenge his earlier arrest on rape charges.
Mbonambi said even though the State might find it difficult to prove rape charges against the 21-year-old, his own admission statement confirms that it was an act of revenge and was planned over a period of time due to the circumstances leading up to the six murders.
Mbonambi said the accused lured all of these women, including one survivor, under false pretences.
“The person who is supposed to tell us what really happened has not done so. This has left us to arrive to certain conclusions on the issue of rape.
“It is the accused’s version that the sex was consensual and he denies rape. One of the things we are trying to expose is that the murder was planned and if we are successful, then issue of consensual sex is neither here nor there as he knows his motives when he lured these unsuspecting women to the warehouse where they were murdered. The fact of the matter is that innocent women lost their lives,” Mbonambi said.
He added that the accused had given imprecise details of what happened during his admission statement as a way to control the narrative that he did not plan the murders of the six women to his father who wanted to know what he had done.
“What he has told us in his admission statement does not correspond. He gave us imprecise details of what happened which makes it difficult to say if he had planned these killings.
“He contends that there was consensual sex but the accused knew that he wanted to avenge his earlier rape charges. We also know that most if the victims were Zimbabwean nationals and the survivor is South African. We also know that Ms Dlamini, who was linked to an earlier charge of rape, is also Zimbabwean. This then leads us to conclude that these murders were revenge killings and were planned,” Mbonambi added.
The investigating officer said the accused had ulterior motives of killing the women who had no inclination to suspect that they were being led to their death as they were of the view that Mkhwanazi wanted them for their services.
“He did all of this under false pretences by getting the victims to his place... When the women agreed to his request they did not know about his ulterior motives. To this point it was consensual but we are trying to prove that he planned this as it was done under false pretences,“ he said.
The Star
siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za