Officer who took confession statement of massacre accused denies conflict of interest

Veteran police investigator Captain Lungile Sigcu who took a confession statement from one of the accused in theLusikisiki massacre trial, has told the Mthatha High Court his being a member of the same unit investigating the attack did not amount to a conflict of interest. Sigcu has 20 years’ experience as a commissioned officer. He was not part of the detectives team investigatingthe mass shootingin a Lusikisiki village that claimed the lives of 18 people in September 2024, and that qualified him to take a statement from any of the accused.

Sigcu, the head of Ngcobo satellite office of the province’s serious and violent crimes investigations unit, headed by Brigadier Duduzile Ngculu,took the confession statementfrom Aphiwe AP Ndende, one of the six accused. He has been testifying in a trial-within-a-trial since Tuesday in a bid to convince the court that Ndende’s confession was taken lawfully and therefore could be admitted as evidence. But the defence’s stance is that the statement was taken under duress, with Ndende exposed to police brutality.

Defence attorney Mawande Nokwali also contends that Sigcu was a member of the same unit investigating the case, which made the statement inadmissible. It is the state’s case that the confessions of Ndende and Siphosoxolo Dukengceni Myekethe were obtained lawfully. The defence team is adamant all the confession statements were taken unlawfully, with their clients assaulted, tortured and threatened with death unless they made incriminating statements confessing to the crime.

[paywall]

It is now the task of presiding judge Richard Brooks to determine the admissibility of the statements. None of the accused claimed to have been assaulted by Sigcu, or assaulted in his presence. Sigcu said the case was being investigated by serious and violent crimes unit members from SAPS provincial headquarters in Zwelitsha near Qonce.

[/paywall]