Cops ‘botch’ case of family murder
TWO ACQUITTED: INVESTIGATION WAS FLAWED – JUDGE
With killers still at large, relatives feel unsafe and want them brought to book.
The family of a North West police constable, his wife and two children who were murdered in their home are appealing for help to bring the killers to book after two accused were acquitted because of a shoddy police investigation.
In the High Court in Pretoria yesterday, acting Judge Vincent Ratshibumo acquitted Karabo Mokhosi, 30, and Tebogo Chidi, 38, on all charges against them relating to the December 2016 murders of Hebron police constable Sello Sebati, 41, his wife Mmatshepo, 40, son Quinton, three, and eight-month-pregnant daughter Tshegofatso, 22.
Sebati, who had several businesses, was gunned down while he was counting money in his home in Mmakau outside Mothutlung. His wife, son and daughter were gunned down in their beds.
His 15-year-old daughter, who was outside the house when the group of armed men stormed in, was wounded in the leg but managed to survive by pretending she was dead.
The gunmen took cash, cellphones and Sebati’s service pistol and drove away from the scene in the family’s car, which was abandoned.
Ratshibumo described the police investigation into the massacre as “one blunder after another” and found that there was no credible evidence to link Mokhosi and Chidi to the murders.
No cellphone, ballistics or fingerprint evidence was presented, the murder weapons and Sebati’s service pistol were not recovered and the only evidence against the two accused was their confessions to the police, which were inadmissible.
The judge said there was evidence the police had tortured the two accused, that the information in their confessions was contradicted by other evidence and that their confessions had not been made freely and voluntarily.
Mmatshepo’s brother, Donald Kabelo-Brown, said the court’s finding that the police had not done their job and that the killers might still be at large was very disturbing for the family, who did not feel safe in their own community anymore.
“It’s really pathetic. This can’t be left. We’re not happy at all. We appeal to anyone who can help us to continue with this case so we can get closure,” he said.
His sister, Maria Nkatlo, burst into tears, saying the ruling had left the family in terrible pain. –
There is evidence police tortured accused.