WATCH | Bokgabo Poo seen on footage, accused alleges he was assaulted by cops before pointing out body parts

The rights of an accused took centre stage in the Pretoria high court sitting in Benoni on Wednesday as Bokgabo Poo’s alleged murderer Ntokozo Khulekani Zikhali claimed he was assaulted to pressure him into a confession.

Zikhali's testimony that he was beaten by police in October last year triggered a trial within a trial.  He also alleged his rights were not fully read out to him and he was not warned that pointing out body parts could be self-incriminatory.

The court heard Zikhali gave police four addresses which had negative outcomes and he had done so because of “the pressure that was on me. I couldn’t bear the beating”.

On Tuesday he pleaded not guilty to the murder of Poo but admitted to having raped a nine-year-old girl in the same area in 2021. The matter is running concurrently with that of Poo.

Zikhali claimed he was taken to different police stations and questioned. He claimed he was assaulted on his private parts and tasered on his shoulders.

“In the interrogation room an officer questioned me, and when I didn’t have answers, they put plastic on my head, suffocating me. They were asking me about a missing child,” said Zikhali.

He said he was not informed that a pointing out was not obligatory.

Col Eugene Scheepers, from Brakpan police, took the stand to defend the manner in which the pointing out was undertaken.

Scheepers said he was told at the station a suspect in the missing child case was in the cells and co-operating, and had said he would take them to addresses where the body parts were.

However, due to the urgency of the matter and the manner in which it was received by the public, Scheepers elected to make an informal pointing out, which would not involve full records of addresses.

He said Zikhali did not attempt to lay a complaint against the police he said assaulted him. While he was verbally issuing a notice of rights to Zikhali, the accused interrupted him [Scheepers] and said he was well aware of his rights.

But the defence said the only rights read out were the right to remain silent and anything he said could be used against him.

The poor reading of the notice had a significant impact on the credibility of the pointing out exercise and, given his allegations of assault, he may have been coerced into the exercise, the defence claimed.

The state said though the pointing out was done informally, it should be admissible as evidence because going through the formal route would have defeated the objective of potentially finding the missing person in time and alive.

Judgment on the assault allegations and whether the pointing out should be admissible will be given on Thursday.

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