‘Killer’ uses victim’s finger to flee
Slain engineer’s fingerprint used to leave gated complex Accused says he killed lover in self defence
A Pretoria man has allegedly confessed to killing his partner, stashing his body in a car boot and cutting off his finger to use it at a biometric exit facility before disappearing.
Freddy Thabo Kekana, 31, who was arrested last week at the ZCC headquarters in Moria and has, according the police, confessed to killing his lover Sam Nkuna, 33, and burying his body in a shallow grave in Erasmia, north of Pretoria.
Kekana is facing murder and kidnapping charges after he allegedly strangled Nkuna, a senior engineer at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria.
Nkuna went missing from his ThornBrook Golf Estate home in Akasia, Pretoria, on August 8 after spending the night with Kekana.
A source close to the investigation said Kekana claimed that he killed Nkuna in selfdefence after he tried to rape him on that fateful night.
“He said he went to Nkuna’s house on that night as per their arrangement and later, around 2am, Nkuna allegedly forced himself on him.
“He said he had to resort to strangling Nkuna in self-defence after he persisted on having sex with him. He [then] allegedly stashed his body into the boot of a car and cut off his finger and used it to exit the estate,” said the source.
Nkuna’s car was found abandoned in Mabopane, north of Pretoria, after Kekana allegedly try to sell it but failed to find a buyer for it, while his body was found buried in a shallow grave in Erasmia last Friday.
Another source close to the investigation said Kekana led police to the shallow grave where he had buried Nkuna.
“We spent two hours digging the grave, and we were shocked to see a severed finger protruding from the shallow grave. The finger was found separately from the body,” said the source.
Nkuna’s brother, Joseph, said the family was “very upset because the media failed to help us in our search for him” when he went missing.
“It doesn’t help the family now [to talk to the media] because we have been looking for Sam for the whole month and nobody cared,” Joseph said.
Nkuna will be buried in Dennilton, Limpopo, on Saturday.
Hawks spokeswoman Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu confirmed that Kekana had confessed to killing his partner and burying him. “We can also confirm that the deceased’s finger was cut off and Kekana used it to exit the gate control [system] driving his partner’s car, while Nkuna’s body was in the boot,” said Mulamu.
ThornBrook Golf Estate manager Imraan Ibrahams yesterday told Sowetan that it could be possible to gain access or exit the complex using a dead person’s finger on their biometric system.
Ibrahams said he was aware of Nkuna’s death but wished to refrain from talking about it since police were investigating.
Spokesman Tendai Tsedu said the CSIR and the country at large have been robbed of a young engineer who still had a lot to offer.
“Sam will be sorely missed at the CSIR. His death brings great grief and leaves a substantial void. We thank the many employees and members of the community who heeded the call to assist in the search for Sam since he disappeared on August 8 2017.”
Nkuna was a senior systems engineer at the CSIR, where he planned and directed the identification and development of logistics support and system requirements for military systems.
He was also responsible for personnel and training plan, packaging, handling, storage and transportation plan. His partner, Kekana, was out on parole after serving 11 years for armed robbery, according to Mulamu.
He had been sentenced to 17 years in jail. Kekana was remanded in custody after appearing in court on
Friday.