‘Confessions’: Suspects detail how they stalked, shot Deokaran

Disputed admissions made by six men accused of assassinating Babita Deokaran on 23 August shed new light on the Gauteng health whistle-blower’s dying moments.

The alleged hitmen – Phakamani Hadebe, Zitha Radebe, Nhlangano Ndlovu, Siphakanyiswa Dladla, Simphiwe Mazibuko and Sanele Mbhele – last week began the process of applying for bail in the Johannesburg Regional Court, during which they called into question the veracity of these admissions.

They now claim to have been tortured into making them and want them ruled inadmissible.

Their initial versions of events potentially paint a picture of how Deokaran was killed, and even point to who might have pulled the trigger on the fatal shot. However, material differences in each admission still leave the truth veiled in mystery.

On 26 August, Mbhele, 27, was arrested alongside Dladla, Ndlovu and Radebe after a police swoop on an apparent safe house in Rosettenville. Investigating officer Captain Percy Chauke, in his affidavit, said the men had been living together in a single room for three weeks.

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Court filings reveal Mbhele presented his version of how the shooting took place two days after his arrest.

He admitted to being the driver of a BMW in which the shooters were travelling and to following and then cutting off Deokaran’s car. According to him, three men then jumped out and opened fire on Deokaran’s car.

In his version, the triggermen were not named. After he was arrested, though, Ndlovu, too, served up a confession to police. He placed himself in the car with Mbhele – as well as Radebe and Dladla. However, he claimed it was Radebe and Dladla who “did the shooting”.

Dladla, meanwhile, identified himself, Radebe and Ndlovu as the designated shooters but told the police Radebe was the only one who got out of the car.

The now disputed admissions potentially draw back the veil on the planning of the assassination, providing a look into the week before Deokaran was killed.

Hadebe was arrested on the same night as his co-accused, while driving a VW Polo linked to the shooting via CCTV footage. It was also spotted in the area days before, in what police claim was surveillance of the whistle-blower.

Hadebe, like his co-accused, made a statement in which he confessed to the crime – positioning himself and Mazibuko as lookouts and Radebe and Dladla as the instigators.

Radebe and Dladla in their interviews apparently fingered Hadebe as the lead and he, like his co-accused, is also now disputing his confession.

On this initial version, though, Hadebe said he and his cousin, Radebe, had travelled to Brits Mall on 16 August. Once there, they

stopped on the side of the road and got into a black MercedesBenz Viano. Inside, he said, was Dladla and two others who were introduced as former health minister Zweli Mkhize – who has strongly denied any involvement – and his younger brother.

Hadebe detailed how Dladla had told of a “job to do” involving “a female person who needs to be killed” for a fee of R400 000.

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Hadebe told the police they had carried out surveillance on the home four days later. The alleged surveillance of Deokaran was echoed by Mazibuko in another now disputed confession, who said they had gone on scouting missions on 18 and 19 August and even taken photos of the property.

The photos were allegedly found on Mazibuko’s phone.

In terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, evidence given in confessions is only admissible if it can be proven to have been “freely and voluntarily made by such person in his sound and sober senses and without having been unduly influenced”.

Whether these initial admissions will stand this test now looks set to be decided by the trial court. Taken at face value, the confessions could be a lynchpin in the case against them.

But if they were to be thrown out it could spell trouble, with the investigating officer revealing that key evidence – including at least one firearm and the BMW allegedly used in the killing – had not been located two months on.

– bernadettew@citizen.co.za