NPA to appeal acquittal

THE National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is headed to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to try to overturn a ruling that acquitted an alleged rapist and killer of Brakpan job-seeker Yvonne Fikile Sibeko.

Tokologo Mbonani was acquitted in March 2018 on all four charges of kidnapping, murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and rape following a botched prosecution.

Acting Judge PD Phahlane ruled at the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, that the State failed to lead evidence proving Mbonani’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sibeko’s burnt and decomposed body was found in a Brakpan veld in 2017.

An autopsy concluded that the stabbed woman was still alive when burnt. No test was done to determine whether she was raped or not.

Police said Mbonani took them to the veld to point out the body.

The State’s first apparent bungle in the case was that while Mbonani had pleaded guilty to the murder count, the prosecution team argued for the no-guilty plea to be recorded.

This was on grounds that the plea would lead to Mbonani not being found guilty of premeditated murder, Judge Phahlane’s judgment shows.

The prosecutors “submitted that (the) State will lead evidence” proving premeditated murder, said Judge Phahlane.

But the State failed to provide proof to this effect. “There is no such evidence presented in this court,” Judge Phahlane said.

The State’s case was further compromised by the testimony of Captain Simon Magane, the first witness.

He testified that Mbonani pointed out the body to him and that he confessed to raping and killing Sibeko.

But Magano’s notes about the pointing out were found by the court to be shoddy.

“Magane did not write on the form that accused confessed to the rape of the deceased,” said Judge Phahlane.

“I am worried of accepting the evidence of Magane, more particularly because nothing relating to the murder, rape and robbery of the deceased has been recorded on the document where he was supposed to note such details.

“No evidence has been presented to prove that the accused indicated that he had burnt the deceased.”

The NPA’s appeal at the SCA was being brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions: Gauteng Division, Pretoria, the court’s roll showed.

Lumka Mahanjana, the NPA’S North Gauteng regional spokesperson, would not be drawn to comment on the appeal approach.

“We can confirm that this matter is on the SCA roll on 19 August 2020,” she said yesterday.

“We don’t think that it will be appropriate to make the founding affidavit by the Director of Public Prosecutions available or to canvass the merits and demerits of the appeal as the matter is pending before the SCA.”