Chochocho murder suspect returns to court
In 2020, police in Mpumalanga arrested a 18-year-old boy in connection with the murder of a teenage girl whose body was found in a pit toilet at her home.
Kgaugelo Sibiya, accused of the kidnapping and murder of his 14-year-old cousin, Zinhle Dorothy Sekgoapa of Chochocho, appeared at the Mpumalanga High Court on Thursday April 28.
The accused was arrested in 2020 and is facing charges of kidnapping, extortion, murder and robbery.
The National Prosecution Authority’s provincial spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa, said, “He appeared last week to place his attorney on record and the matter was postponed to October 17, 2022, for trial.”
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Sibiya’s first appearance in high court was on March 14, 2022. He appeared again on April 21 and 25.
This matter began in 2020, when he first appeared in the KaBokweni Magistrate’s Court. At the time of his appearance, the investigating officer, Sgt Joseph Mnisi, then still a constable, testified in court that Sibiya had submitted a statement to the police, reportedly confessing that he had planned the kidnapping, because he wanted money from the child’s aunt, who was allegedly mistreating him.
He also confessed to the police how he had allegedly arranged for two of his friends from Mbombela and Tekwane South to abduct his cousin that day while he himself went to school.
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Mnisi revealed that the police even took him to these areas, but that he did not indicate where his friends were.
The matter was then placed under investigation.
