The three suspects in the killing of Hillary Gardee — daughter of former EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee — have accused police of torturing them because they were under intense political pressure to find the murder weapon.
Philemon Lukhele, Albert Gama and Sipho Mkhatshwa make the accusations in statements to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) that the Sunday Times has seen.
The men, who are to appear in Mbombela magistrate’s court on June 9, face a litany of charges including rape, murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Mkhatshwa will be in court on Thursday to continue the bail application he launched last week. Gama and Lukhele have not applied for bail.
In his statement to Ipid Lukhele says he was tortured so badly he confessed to hiding the gun in his home, while Gama says police tortured him to try to make him confess to being the owner of the firearm.
Mkhatshwa says his interrogators told him police minister Bheki Cele was demanding that the firearm had to be found.
Police declined to tell the Sunday Times this week if they had found the murder weapon yet or identified its owner.
In statements dated May 13, the three accused describe days of torture they allegedly endured at the hands of detectives who were under increasing pressure to find the firearm and solve the high-profile crime.
They say they were given electric shocks, beaten, suffocated with plastic bags and waterboarded by frustrated officers.
Police say Gardee was murdered on April 29 or 30 in a room in an Mbombela student-accommodation lodge owned by Lukhele.
In his statement Mkhatshwa says he and his co-accused were threatened with force if they did not reveal where the gun used to kill Gardee was hidden.
“During my stay at the police cells Brig Madonsela would call me individually, and at times with my co-accused, threaten to unleash the whole force on us as there was pressure on him to find the gun used because the minister of police, who had come for the funeral [on May 7], wanted that information.”
It is not known who Brig Madonsela is or where he is stationed.
There was pressure on him to find the gun used because the minister of police, who had come for the funeral, wanted that information
— Murder suspect Sipho Mkhatshwa
Mkhatshwa alleges that every time he gave the officers a response they did not like he was beaten and electrocuted. “I was made to sign the statement of alleged confession to murder implicating innocent people to something myself I know nothing about.”
In his statement, Gama, a security guard at Lukhele’s three lodges, says he was repeatedly questioned by police about whether he owned a gun or knew how to use one, and where the gun used in the killing was hidden.
“I replied to them I don’t have any firearm … I replied to them that I don’t know [how to use a firearm]. The police officials told me that Lukhele told them everything. They also told me that I will tell them the truth.”
Lukhele says is interrogators asked if he knew EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu, Mkhatshwa and two other men.
“They asked when I last saw Floyd. I told them I last saw Floyd five years ago … [I told them] I had no contact with Floyd.”
He says officers demanded that he produce the gun and when he told them he would search for it, they continued torturing him.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brig Selvy Mohlala declined to answer questions about what calibre gun had been used in the murder, whether it had been found and whether its owner had been identified.
“The investigation is still ongoing. Unfortunately we will not be able to comment on the merits and processes of the investigation.”
He declined to answer questions about the autopsy or say if forensic analysis of DNA found in the lodge and of possible bloodstains in Lukhele’s car had been completed.
Ipid spokesperson Lizzy Suping confirmed the directorate was investigating torture allegations.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.