Daughter wanted ‘strict parents’ killed

MMAKAU resident Onthatile Sebati orchestrated a hit to wipe out her entire family allegedly because she wanted the freedom to go out and enjoy herself.

According to the confession statement made to the police by Tumelo Mokone, one of the alleged hit men, Sebati complained to him after inviting him on Facebook, that her mother was too strict, and that she could not go out and enjoy herself.

The statement was read out in the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria by Captain Paulos Dlamini from the Mooinooi SAPS, who obtained the statement from Mokone shortly after his arrest.

Mokone further alleged that he told Sebati there was nothing she could do about her strict parents and that she should just accept the situation at home. However, she allegedly persisted that she wanted her mother to die.

In November 2016, Sebati allegedly contacted Mokone again, this time via WhatsApp and told him of her failed attempt to put sleeping tablets in the family’s food.

“She poured them (sleeping tablets) into the food and the mother smelled a funny odour from the food and instructed her to throw the food out after which the mother cooked food for the family.”

He said despite asking Sebati to stop updating him about her “evil plans”, in late November his cousin and co-accused, Kagiso Mokone, and Sebati told him all they wanted him to do was to drive the family car.

During his birthday on December 5, 2016, Mokone said his cousin told him they could go rob the father of his business funds so they could have something to celebrate with. The accused claimed he had stressed that no one should be harmed.

On the morning of December 6, the two cousins met with Sebati who gave them her father’s service pistol, which she found hidden in a cupboard.

Around 11pm, the trio made their way to the family home, where Mokone said Sebati helped control the family dogs while he stayed behind to open the main gate and start the family car to await his cousin.

He alleged Sebati showed his cousin where the father was, and he shot him, and when the mother and sister appeared he shot them and a younger sibling, who was also in the house.

As they were about to make their getaway, Sebati allegedly asked for her to be shot in the leg.

The court also heard the confession of Sebati, who claimed her family were mistreating her, and that she had confided in the two cousins about it.

While the cousins’ confessions were that Sebati was the mastermind behind the killing of her family, Sebati’s version differed in that she alleged all three of them planned the killings together from the onset.

Sebati and cousins Tumelo and Kagiso Mokone are on trial for the murder of Mmakau Police Constable Solomon Lucky Sebati, 41, his wife Mmatshepo, 40, 3-year-old Quinton, and 18-year-old Tshegofatso, who was seven months pregnant, in their home on December 6, 2016,

The matter continues tomorrow.