William Kekana (19) pleaded guilty in the Temba Circuit High Court on Tuesday to 10 counts, including four charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and the rape of a 17-year-old girl.
Kekana on Monday pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges brought against him, but following a meeting with his defence counsel, Advocate Janus Roothman, changed his plea to guilty on the majority of his charges.
But he denied the killing of one-year-old Kayla Rawstone; the murder and rape of her mother, Janine Drennan (24); or the murder of Kayla’s grandmother, Hester Rawstone (52).
Kekana in a statement made to detectives shortly after his arrest on August 13 2003 said his co-accused, Charles Fido Baloyi, who was shot dead during his arrest, was responsible for those crimes.
The court heard how Kekana and Baloyi forced Kayla, Drennen and Rawstone into the family’s car at gunpoint as the family left the Union Park Gate Building in Sunnyside, Pretoria, on July 31 2003, following a night out to celebrate Kayla’s first birthday at a nearby restaurant.
In a statement after the pointing out of the crime scenes by Kekana shortly after his arrest, Kekana told the court that the family was abducted at gunpoint and driven towards Mamelodi.
The accused initially denied ”voluntarily” pointing out the crime scenes to police but during Tuesday’s court hearing retracted his denial.
Captain Johan Diedericks of the Johannesburg violent crimes unit told the court on Monday that Kekana had opted to cooperate when asked to point out the crime scenes.
He allegedly told Diedericks: ”I want to go ahead with it. I want to get it off my heart as it bothers me. I was not alone.”
His defence counsel on Tuesday read out his subsequent statement that detailed the hours leading up to the murders, as the accused sat hunched in the dock.
The statement told how Rawstone was the first to die when she was shot in the neck by his co-accused in the back seat of the car.
”He shot her when she answered the phone,” the court heard. She was then thrown out of the car on the Hebron Road north of Pretoria.
The statement detailed how Baloyi drove towards Stinkwater and kidnapped a 17-year-old girl in town after Kekana allegedly held her and her boyfriend at gunpoint.
They forced her into the car and drove towards an open veld where Kekana allegedly told detectives that he raped the girl while Baloyi raped ”the white woman”.
”I raped the black woman and Charles the white woman. Then Charles shot the white woman and the child and I shot the black woman,” Roothman said, reading Kekana’s declaration.
Post-mortem results showed that Drennen had 14 bullet holes in her body, 10 of them entrance wounds. She died of gun shots to the head, the results declared.
Kayla was shot twice: ”Once between the eyes at close range and once in the chest.”
Rawstone was found to have died as a result of a gunshot wound to the neck, which tore ”major arteries”.
The 17-year-old who was left for dead after being shot in the head, allegedly by Kekana, managed to walk to her boyfriend’s house and called the police. She was later admitted to the Jubilee hospital and is still under police protection.
She later identified Kekana as one of her attackers in a police identity parade and gave evidence in camera on Tuesday afternoon. The packed court, which had earlier sat in stunned silence as Kekana’s admission was read out, was told to vacate the courtroom before the witness gave evidence against Kekana.
Judge Monica Leeuw accepted Kekana’s plea and found him guilty on 10 charges relating to the rape of the 17-year-old, her attempted murder, the kidnapping of the three women and baby, robbery with aggravating circumstances, pointing of a firearm, the possession of the unlicensed weapon and the possession of unlicensed ammunition.
The trial will continue on Wednesday. — Sapa
‘Developments’ in Kekana trial