MPILETSO MOTUMI
THE MAN who was arrested for allegedly shooting to death three people and injuring two others in Emndeni has told a court he was tortured into confessing to the crimes.
“I was handcuffed, legs tightened with cable ties and then stepped on repeatedly… until I falsely agreed to implicate myself in the shooting of the three people,” Sizwe Gwala, 31, told the Johannesburg High Court yesterday during cross-examination by his lawyer, advocate Lucky Dikolomela.
He is accused of three counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
In court papers, Gwala is said to have been a passenger in a car driven by his cousin when it hit a seven-year-old boy in Biyela Street in Emndeni Extension in March last year.
The two were allegedly confronted by residents after the accident and an argument broke out, which ended with Gwala and his cousin being attacked by residents.
Gwala allegedly told the residents that he was going to fetch his firearm. He returned about 15 minutes later.
He then fired several shots, hitting Jabulile Vilakazi, Bhekazane Tshabalala, Fifi Jeffrey Mkhwanazi, Albert Khumalo and Mbuyiseni Khanyile, who were all chatting and drinking.
Khumalo died later that day and Vilakazi the following morning, while Khanyile died a week later.
Gwala spent the next four months evading arrest.