Durban – A Himeville policeman involved in the arrest of suspects accused of murdering Underberg farmer Dan Knight admitted to a “costly mistake” while testifying on Monday. Captain Vincent Xaba confessed to Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Jerome Mnguni that he had not read one of the accused his constitutional rights before he conducted a pointing-out of a stolen vehicle.
This could render the pointing out inadmissible as evidence. “This is a costly mistake indeed,” the judge said.
Knight was bludgeoned to death with a hammer and other weapons at his home on Outlook Farm on October 17 last year.
He and his partner, Beth Bucher, were attacked by a gang of five men in balaclavas and dark clothes.
Tsepiso Ramonyane, 20, Bonginkosi Nyawose, 33, and Happy Gcina, 24, have pleaded not guilty to the murder and aggravated robbery.
Lawyers for Ramonyane and Nyawose submitted that their clients were assaulted by police who arrested them and claim they were made to sign written confessions and make pointings-out under duress.
A trial within a trial is now under way to determine whether the confessions and pointing-out can be admitted into evidence…
South Africa Today – South Africa News
