LAWYERS of the three accused in the killing of four family members in Mmakau, Brits in 2016 are confident they will win the case.
The deceased are their father (41), their mum (39), their younger brother (6) and their eight months pregnant sister (22) who were murdered.
This was revealed on Friday, 10 November, during the trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Tshwane. The gruesome murder took place in December 2016, when the daughter was only 15 years old.
The daughter, who is now 22 years old, is accused of hiring her cousins to wipe out her family.
Four years later, she allegedly confessed to this heinous crime.
ALSO READ: Daughter (15) 'mastermind' of family massacre!
The accused's lawyer, Paul Mtsweni, told the court that it made no sense that she had paid R100 000 four years after the massacre. He said the state had relied heavily on the confessions as evidence and claimed that the confession should not be used as evidence.
"The accused smoked crystal meth from December 2020 to December 2021. She had been smoking before the day of the confession. It takes a long time for the drugs to get into a smoker's system. If she was not in her right mind, the confession cannot stand," he argued.
The number one defendant’s lawyer, Nelson Khoza, told Daily Sun after the trial that he was confident they would be found not guilty.
"The state was faced with the difficult task of proving how they executed their plan. The state has to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused are guilty. We used everything we had to prove the innocence of our clients, even though it is not our duty to prove their innocence, it is the state's job. The evidence that the state has presented to the court is sufficient. I doubt that it is sufficient to convict our client," he added.
Khoza said the state had presented mixed evidence to the court.
"As for the investigation into the phone calls, they never investigated my client's phone numbers, but they took the numbers of accused number two and said they belong to accused number one, which was very favourable to us," he said.
Accused one and three remain at large while the alleged mastermind is in custody. The trial has been postponed to 24 January 2024 for judgement.
