The three men accused of killing Makgabo Matlala, the granddaughter of Transvaal Judge President Bernard Ngoepe, were found guilty in the Vereeniging Circuit High Court on Wednesday. The three will be sentenced on Thursday.
Judge Gerhardus Hattingh described the murder as barbaric. One of the three accused has told in chilling detail how the little girl was ”silenced”. The Witness website reported on Wednesday that this was contained in the plea explanation of Johannes Siphiwe Molefe (22).
Molefe said in his plea he silenced four-year-old Makgabo Matlala by stuffing her underwear into her mouth. He then stuck sticky tape over her mouth and bound her long pants around her head. He also tied her hands and feet. He picked up the base of a bed and put it down on top of her. She suffocated under the bed.
Molefe and Joseph Lucky Ndlovu (21) admitted they had murdered Makgabo.
They also confessed to raping the Matlala family’s 59-year-old nanny.
Steve Tsietsi Mhlanga (22) pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Molefe said he and two friends broke into the Matlala family’s house in Lenasia South on March 8.
Molefe and Ndlovu climbed the wall, while Mhlanga went in at the front gate to ring the bell to try to entice the nanny to come to the front door.
Molefe said they had gone into the house and found the nanny on her knees, scrubbing the floor.
They overpowered her, tied her up and dragged her into a bedroom where Ndlovu raped her.
Molefe said he had seen a screaming child running down the passage. He decided to silence her by gagging her and pushing her under a bed.
Ndlovu’s explanation of plea stated that he saw how Molefe ”tied the little girl’s hands” and he suspected that she might die.
They later packed items including cellphones, a camera, running shoes and a home-entertainment system in a rubbish drum, and fled with the loot. – Sapa