Tukula insists police tortured him
…BY LEKHETHO NTSUKUNYANE
MASERU – Former government employee, Makhakhe Tukula, 34 – facing armed robbery charges in the Maseru Magistrate’s Court – still insists police forced him to confess to the alleged crime.
His lawyer – Advocate Lebohang Matsoso, contended last Monday the confession cannot be tendered as evidence before the court as his client was unduly influenced to make it.
“For a confession to be approved as prima facie evidence in the courts of law, it ought to have been made freely and willingly. We submit therefore, before this honourable court that the accused Tukula was forced to confess by police,” said Matsoso.
He added if the prosecution insists the confession be tendered as evidence, it (prosecution) should prove beyond reasonable doubt that the confession was made freely and willingly, “The honours of proof lies predominantly with the prosecution.”
For his part, prosecutor Qcqunimuzi Tshabalala refuted Tukula’s claims that police battered him to confess, describing the allegations as fabrication of facts.
“Literate and sober as he was, Tukula, was aware he was in privacy with honourable Magistrate Palesa Rantara, when he made the confession. In fact, before the confession, he was made aware of what consequences to expect.
“The magistrate actually asked him whether or not he had been influenced in any way to make the confession and he made no mention of the alleged police torture, or any threat imposed on him thereof,” said Tshabalala.
In her testimony before the same court on July 26, Rantara said Tukula made the legal confession before her about his role in the armed robbery.
She told the court she warned him about repercussions entailed, adding she also asked him whether he was confessing of his own accord or not.
But Matsoso, last Monday, argued Rantara did not conduct a thorough inquiry, “Had she done so, she would have discovered the accused was tortured.”
Tukula was once a private secretary of the Minister of Trade, Industry, Corporative and Marketing – Popane Lebesa – before his sacking earlier this year for his role in the alleged armed robbery.
He faces the charges along with his accomplices, Karabo Thulo, 24, and Lira Tšilo, 23.
The trio, along with one Teboho Makobane, allegedly attacked employees of Masianokeng Trading Company on February 23, before robbing them of an estimated M120 000 at gun point. The robbery allegedly occurred at Ha ‘Nelese, Maseru.
Makobane is said to have disappeared after the incident and police have launched a manhunt for him.
The trial-within-trial to determine admissibility of the confession as part of evidence before court continues on Monday. Magistrate Molemo Monethi presides.
