Krugersdorp killer says best friend was not murder 'mastermind'

Marinda Steyn remained adamant on Wednesday afternoon that her best friend Cecilia Steyn had no involvement in a five-year-long killing spree in Gauteng.

"She [Cecilia] didn't know anything. When these murders were happening she even said I should stop driving my bicycle to school because I was the same age as some of these people," the convicted murderer told the South Gauteng High Court.

"I think she would have done something if she had knowledge prior to these things," she added.

Steyn testified that she did not tell Cecilia about the murders because she had feared rejection.

"She [Cecilia] would have told me to go to the police and confess."

Cecilia, Zak Valentine and Marcel Steyn are accused of murdering 11 people from 2012 to 2016‚ as well as robbery‚ aggravated assault‚ racketeering‚ possession of an unlicensed firearm‚ fraud and identity theft. They have pleaded not guilty.

Cecilia has been dubbed the "mastermind" behind the crimes.

During her testimony after the lunch adjournment on Wednesday, Steyn confessed to being the orchestrator behind most of the murders.

She said that she had gone to Mikeila Valentine's house and murdered her. Mikeila was the wife of Valentine. Afterwards, she had gone home, had a shower and watched DVDs to act "normal".

Valentine went back to the house after the murder to be there in case anyone arrived.

She said Mikeila's murder was never discussed with Cecilia.

Speaking about the murders of Peter Meyer and Joan Meyer, she said the plan was to rob the couple and put them into an empty pool.

"I had a gun and took it out and said: 'Lay down.' Zak started acting weird. He always wanted to play around with arrows and swords. So he pulled out a long knife from under his clothes," said Marinda.

She said at a previous meeting with the Meyers, one of them had said they had a large amount of cash in the safe.  

However, the plan was foiled when Valentine went "berserk" and started stabbing the Meyers.

Marinda said she froze out of shock because the plan had not been to kill the couple.

She said they had to go for a polygraph test in connection with the Meyer murders but Valentine repeatedly said he did not want to go.

"He said he had to fake his own death so that he could live in a house at the sea."

She also confessed to being involved in the murders of Jarod Jackson, Glen McGregor, Anthony Scholefield, Kevin McAlpine and Hanle Lategan.