State interrogates #SiamLee murder accused over assault claims
The state hopes to prove that the 29-year-old man’s assault and torture allegations are a “complete fabrication”.
CARMEN Nan Lee, the mother of slain Siam Lee, broke down in court as the man accused of kidnapping and murdering her 20-year-old daughter, once again took to the witness box at the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, 9 May.
On the sixth day of his drawn-out bail hearing the 29-year-old man, who cannot be named as he faces an additional rape charge, claimed authorities had divulged information regarding Lee’s murder and her body during his arrest.
“They told me I had stabbed her in the neck,” he told the court.
“They gave me details of the state of the body of the deceased; essentially leading evidence. They had a narrative of how this all happened,” he added.
ALSO READ: #SiamLee murder accused ‘singled out for special treatment’ at Westville Prison
His outburst came as prosecutor, Surekha Marimuthu, cross-examined him regarding his previous claims that he had been tortured and assaulted by both police and private investigator, Brad Nathanson and his team – who arrested him at his home, nearly two weeks after Lee was killed.
He claimed that he had been repeatedly beaten, kicked and suffocated with a plastic bag – in an effort to coerce him into confessing to Lee’s murder.
Marimuthu said the state intended to show that the accused “exaggerated his claims of the arrest” and the assault allegations are a “complete fabrication”.
ALSO READ: Murdered Siam Lee laid to rest
However, the Assagay businessman stuck to his original statement.
“I was suffocated to a point where I thought I was going to die,” he said.
The accused claimed he suffered several injuries – including bruised and bleeding wrists, a bleeding nose, a bruised face and ‘painful ribs’.
Lee disappeared on January 4 on Margaret Maytom in Durban North, and her burned body was discovered in a sugarcane field in New Hanover two days later.
The hearing is set to continue tomorrow.
Do you want to receive alerts regarding this and other Highway community news via WhatsApp? Send us a WhatsApp message (not an sms) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5409.
You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Highway Mail WhatsApp number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts
