Sipho Masonbuka
Sipho Masonbuka
DNA samples from semen positively link two men accused of the sexual assault of two of three Mamelodi teenage girls murdered two years ago.
Police chief forensic analyst Superintendent Michelle Thompson told the Pretoria high court yesterday that DNA test results done on semen found on the victims matched those of genetic samples taken from Ephraim Mkhali, 24 and Vusi Maphai, 37.
Mkhali and Maphai have pleaded not guilty to robbing, raping and murdering Tsholofelo Aphane, 19, Lindiwe Mbonane, 19 and Lerato Ndinisa, 18, in Mamelodi East, Pretoria.
The naked bodies of the three girls were found in a park behind a shopping complex in May 2006.
Thompson said a mixture of genetic specimens was found on one of the victims, but those of Mkhali and Maphai were also present.
Mkhali's DNA was also found in a blood stain on a single sock found at the crime scene. The duo claim, through their lawyers, that they were assaulted and forced to confess but the magistrate who took down their statements disputed this.
According to magistrate Kgoale Choma's evidence Mkhali was brought to his office and answered no when asked if he had been threatened or forced to make a confession.
The trial counties.
DNA positively links suspects to murdered girls
Sipho Masonbuka
Sipho Masonbuka
DNA samples from semen positively link two men accused of the sexual assault of two of three Mamelodi teenage girls murdered two years ago.
Police chief forensic analyst Superintendent Michelle Thompson told the Pretoria high court yesterday that DNA test results done on semen found on the victims matched those of genetic samples taken from Ephraim Mkhali, 24 and Vusi Maphai, 37.
Mkhali and Maphai have pleaded not guilty to robbing, raping and murdering Tsholofelo Aphane, 19, Lindiwe Mbonane, 19 and Lerato Ndinisa, 18, in Mamelodi East, Pretoria.
The naked bodies of the three girls were found in a park behind a shopping complex in May 2006.
Thompson said a mixture of genetic specimens was found on one of the victims, but those of Mkhali and Maphai were also present.
Mkhali's DNA was also found in a blood stain on a single sock found at the crime scene. The duo claim, through their lawyers, that they were assaulted and forced to confess but the magistrate who took down their statements disputed this.
According to magistrate Kgoale Choma's evidence Mkhali was brought to his office and answered no when asked if he had been threatened or forced to make a confession.
The trial counties.