THE alleged sex workers' 'killer' Sifiso Mkhwanazi said he was forced to confess.
Sifiso (21) testified at the trial within the trial at the Joburg High Court sitting in Palm Ridge, Ekurhuleni, on Wednesday, 7 February.
He said the investigation officer Detective Seargent Bongani Mbonambi and other officers took him from the cell at the Johannesburg Central Police Station to meet his father.
He said Mbonambi told him to confess, and they were taken to a room with his father, and the cop left them.
Sifiso said his father had a cell phone and a small thing resembling a tape recorder.
He said he told his father not to record him. However, his father used his cell phone to record him.
According to Sifiso, his father, Mark Mkhumalo, told him he met up with the investigating office, Seargent Bongani Mbonambi, and they spoke.
Sifiso said his father told him he had no choice but to tell the truth.
"He mentioned how the identity parade went and the other evidence they found.
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"He also told me he and sergeant Mbonambi have been speaking since I was arrested. I was forced to tell my father whatever I told him, and it was not voluntary," he said.
"I spoke about it because I was forced, and that's what my father told me to say," he said.
Sifiso also told the court that his relationship with his father was on and off.
He said he worked at his father's workshop and earned R2 500 a month.
"Sometimes he used to assault me when I've done something wrong, in one incident we had an argument at work at his workshop after I messed up with one of the client's car.
Mbonambi, who testified earlier, said he never told him to confess.
"How would I ask him to confess because I knew we have evidence that linked him," said Mbonambi
The state prosecutor Leswikane Mashabela asked Mkhwanazi what could be the motivation of his father, Mark, to pressure him to confess.
Mkhwanazi said he didn't know.
He then changed his version of being forced to confess.
"I was not intimated by my father to confess about the murders, but when I made the confession, I was scared after being arrested," he said.
The state prosecutor, Advocate Mashabela dismissed Mkhwanazi's claims that his father influenced him to confess.
The defence lawyer, Vuyo Maqetuka, is expected to reply on Thursday, 8 February.
