The State’s third witness in the attempted murder trial involving alleged criminal kingpin Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, his wife Tsakani and three co-accused has denied assaulting alleged hitman Musa Kekana during his arrest.
The testimony forms part of an ongoing trial-within-a-trial to determine the admissibility of evidence obtained following Kekana’s arrest, hours after the murder of Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart.
Under cross-examination by Kekana’s lawyer, Advocate Riaan Gissing, Police Captain Phimi Sekgobela rejected allegations that Kekana was harassed or assaulted during his arrest in April 2024.
Gissing put it to Sekgobela that Kekana had maintained he was tortured to such an extent that he required hospital treatment.
Sekgobela denied the allegation.
“That is not true. We did not touch him,” he told the court.
The police captain further testified that, had officers intended to conceal any alleged assault, they could have destroyed the bloodstained T-shirt Kekana claims he was wearing when the alleged assault took place.
“If we were hiding something, we could have destroyed the T-shirt,” Sekgobela told the court.
Gissing has since concluded his cross-examination of the TRT officer.
Kekana is separately facing a murder charge relating to the killing of Swart, alongside another alleged underworld figure, Katiso “KT” Molefe.
The trial-within-a-trial is continuing, with proceedings set to resume on Friday.
