One of the men accused of the murder of University of Fort Hare fleet manager Petrus Roets has alleged police beat a confession out of him. Testifying during a trial-within-a-trial on the admissibility of his admission statement, Wanini Khuza told the East London High Court on Tuesday police assaulted him until he agreed to the allegations they put to him. Khuza, a former university employee who worked as a driver/protector, Bongani Peter, the university’s chief transport officer, and Sicelo Mbulawa, the owner of Pastiche Car Services, face charges of murdering Roets, conspiracy to murder him and fraud.
According to the indictment, Peter and Khuza took two university vehicles, a Mercedes-Benz bus and Toyota Corolla, to Mbulawa for repairs in 2021 before his company was registered as a service provider. Peter later asked Roets to authorise payment to Pastiche for the repairs. Roets refused, asking for the quotations to compare whether the prices were market related.
Roets reported to management that he was investigating possible corruption charges against Peter and Khuza for their allegedly fraudulent involvement with university service providers. He also reported that he believed his life was in danger after allegedly receiving indirect threats from Peter. According to the indictment, Peter and Khuza were “rewarded” by Mbulawa for bringing the vehicles to him, but Roets was preventing payment.
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It is further alleged the trio planned to kill Roets so they could receive the payment. They allegedly traced Roets’s home address in Gonubie, East London, and followed his vehicle there but did not approach him that day. According to the indictment, the three conspired with unknown people to murder Roets, who was gunned down at an intersection leading to Gonubie on May 19 2022.
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