The man accused of murdering missing constable Frances Rasuge laid a charge of conspiracy to commit murder against her after he was told she wanted him dead, Mmabatho Circuit Court heard on Monday.
In previous testimony, William Nkuna told the court — sitting in Ga-Rankuwa — he had believed Rasuge was incapable of ordering his death.
”If you did not believe Francis Rasuge wanted you killed, why did you lay a conspiracy murder charge against her?” prosecutor Johann Smit asked him under cross-examination.
”I laid the charge because hit men were telling me so,” Nkuna replied.
Rasuge was last seen alive on August 27 last year with Nkuna outside a hair salon in Themba, north of Pretoria.
Nkuna said he had doubted what the hit men were telling him as Rasuge had not been acting strangely towards him.
”I believed she was forced to want to have me killed by Captain [Simon] Letseka,” he told the court.
Nkuna claimed Letseka was jealous of his relationship with Rasuge, having propositioned her himself.
Asked why he had not discussed the allegations with Rasuge, Nkuna said he had feared Rasuge would tell Letseka.
”If Letseka was told this by Frances, I feared he would decide to try to kill me himself.”
Earlier, the court heard that the blood spots found in Nkuna’s car came from his lovemaking with Rasuge.
”She [Rasuge] liked making love in an open car,” he said. ”We sometimes made love in the car or outside on the boot mat. Sometimes I would notice a dark spot on the mat afterwards, which was blood.”
Nkuna testified that he would clean such spots so that his wife and family would not see them.
He claimed that, on the day of Rasuge’s disappearance, he picked her up from the hair salon and dropped her off at a taxi rank in Themba City Complex between 1pm and 2pm.
He did not speak to her again that day and unsuccessfully tried to call her the next day.
Nkuna denied that he was the man pictured withdrawing money from Rasuge’s account on bank surveillance videos.
He told the court no black shirt with white trim, similar to the one worn by the man on the footage, had been taken from his home, as testified by police.
North West Premier Edna Molewa was among members of the public in attendance at the trial. — Sapa