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Onthatile Sebati, 23, and her two cousins were found guilty in the Pretoria high court in South Africa recently of murdering her father, mother, eight months pregnant sister and young brother.
Sebati paid her cousins Tumelo and Kagiso Mokone R100,000 from payouts she received after the murders.
She was 15 years old when she came up with the plot to to kill her father, police constable Solomon Lucky Sebati, mother Mmatshepo, a nurse at an old-age home, her 19-year-old pregnant sister Tshegofatso and her young brother Quinton at their home at Mmakau near Brits in the North West in December 2016.
They were shot dead with her father’s service pistol.
Judge Mashudu Munzhelele rejected the defence of the three accused and found them guilty on all counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of a firearm, illegal possession of ammunition and theft.
The three sat in silence with their heads bowed. Audible sighs from family members in the public gallery accompanied the verdict.
Dolly Brown, a niece of the slain police officer, welcomed the finding
“These are evil children. They took our family members away from us. Though we are happy with this decision, nothing will return our relatives to us,” Brown told TimesLIVE.
According to the judge, Kagiso Mokone testified he was not in the in the area when the offences were committed. However, “his fingerprints found in the Chrysler stolen from the deceased confirmed what was said in his original confession, though he tried to retract the confession during the trial”.
Sebati claimed she was under the influence of drugs when she signed a confession while in police custody. Munzhelele rejected her version, saying she could remember small details leading up to the murders and immediately afterwards perfectly well.
Tumelo Mokone did not testify.
Sentencing was postponed to April 16, 17 and 19 so the pre-sentencing report can be compiled. (TimesLIVE)
derick.khumalo