When a Gqeberha man boasted to a fellow inmate about having raped, robbed and murdered an elderly Summerstrand woman, he did not anticipate that his crude statements would come back to haunt him during trial.
Accused of the rape and murder of 85-year-old Hazel Higgins, Mnikeli Manzi’s alleged confession to police was this week admitted into evidence after a lengthy trial-within-a-trial.
In the pointing-out statement made by Manzi in June 2019, he admitted he and two other men had broken into the Kruger Gardens Retirement Village home of Higgins with the intent to steal.
Manzi, 32, who pleaded guilty to eight counts of housebreaking with intent to rob, seven counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, four counts of kidnapping and one count of theft but denied any involvement in the murder and rape of Higgins, gave a detailed account to police of what transpired on March 28 2014.
In his statement, Manzi said he and two men identified only as Blade and Xolisani had used a tree stump to scale the perimeter fence of the Admiralty Way complex.
Once inside, they noticed an open kitchen window at the cottage Higgins was living in.
Xolisani climbed through the window and opened the door for Manzi and Blade. Once inside, he said he went to the dining room while the other two men went to Higgins’s bedroom.
“After a few minutes I also went to the room, where I noticed that my two friends had already tied up and killed the white old lady that was in the room,” Manzi said in his statement.
They then proceeded to steal a number of items and left.
Earlier in the trial, a fellow inmate at the St Albans Correctional Facility testified that Manzi had confessed to him about the rape and murder of Higgins.
Bongani Njejula told the court that Manzi said he had strangled Higgins before one of his friends tied her up, suffocated her and sexually assaulted her.
Manzi denied the allegation and on Friday, during cross-examination by state advocate Marius Stander, said Njejula had falsely implicated him because he had refused to share a cellphone with him while the pair where in the awaiting-trial section of the prison.
This week judge Jannie Eksteen ruled that Manzi’s statement to the police be admitted as evidence after Manzi claimed he was not given an opportunity to consult a lawyer before giving the statement and that he was under duress to do so.
At the start of his trial, Manzi entered a plea explanation where he detailed how between December 2013 and October 2017 he committed at least eight housebreakings in the Summerstrand and Lorraine areas.
In each incident, Manzi claimed to be acting with others but never named his co-perpetrators.
At two of the scenes Manzi left behind DNA evidence on milk containers.
In most incidents, Manzi admitted to either tying up the occupants or locking them in a room.
Most of his victims were women.
The trial continues.
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