WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2009-05-19 Time: 19:00:03 Posted By: Jan
By Sherlissa Peters
In a dramatic twist at the murder trial that has captivated the Midlands community, a state witness who testified last week said on Monday that he had lied on the stand and knows nothing about the murder.
Siyabonga Mdlalose, an accomplice in the murder of Howick mother Monica Manilall in February 2006, pleaded guilty to the killing in January last year and is serving a life sentence for his role.
Mdlalose was then subpoenaed as a state witness in the trial of Sunesh Manilall (Monica’s husband), Manilall’s mistress, Mumtaz Osman, and a third accused, Victor Mbatha.
The state alleges Manilall and Osman, now married, masterminded Monica’s murder.
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It is alleged they hired four men to kill Monica, who was shot dead in her home as she played with her year-old baby.
Mbatha, together with Osman, are alleged to have picked up the hitmen from KwaPata in Pietermaritzburg and driven them to Howick on the day of the murder.
All three have pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In his evidence-in-chief before Judge Herbert Msimang, Mdlalose last week upheld the guilty plea he made last year and two separate statements he made after his arrest.
He said Mbatha and Osman had fetched him and three accomplices from KwaPata and driven them to Howick.
Mdlalose said Manilall and Osman had conspired to enable them to identify Monica at the Spar supermarket in Howick a day before the murder
He admitted he had pulled the trigger of the gun that killed Monica.
Mdlalose said he and his accomplices had been paid R10 000 after killing Monica.
However, under cross-examination by Osman’s advocate, Shane Mathews, yesterday, Mdlalose shocked all when he retracted his entire testimony.
Mathews was questioning Mdlalose on the details of his statement, when the latter said he knew nothing about the statement.
“I wish to explain that the Indian woman (Monica Manilall) was not shot by me. I do not know who shot her,” Mdlalose said.
He said when he was arrested the police went to his residence with a statement already prepared; all he had to do was sign it.
“The police told me because I was being arrested in connection with murder, I was going to spend a long time in prison. If I admitted guilt to the offence, this would be of help to me,” Mdlalose said.
He told the surprised court that when he was sentenced to life imprisonment, the police did not do as they had promis-ed and he was hauled off to prison.
“The police came to see me in prison and brought me back to Pietermaritzburg. They told me that in order to have my sentence reduced, I should give evidence in this trial,” said Mdlalose. “I asked the police how I was expected to give evidence in a matter I knew nothing about. They told me not to worry, and to just say what was written in the statement.”
He said police officials had been reading out the statement to him in the holding cells at the court for the past two weeks.
Mdlalose shocked the court further when he implicated the state prosecutor in the matter, saying she was present when the investigating officers in the case were forcing him to falsely testify.
The case was adjourned to today to allow the state prosecutor to take the matter under advisement with her seniors.
Monica Manilall’s family was devastated by the developments in the trial and sat stunned outside the courtroom after the day’s proceedings.
Osman and Manilall, who are both on bail of R10 000 and R20 000 respectively, left the court building smiling and holding hands.