MULALO Sivhidzho feared that police would eventually kill her if she did not cooperate.
MULALO Sivhidzho feared that police would eventually kill her if she did not cooperate.
Sivhidzho told the Johannesburg high court yesterday that she was tortured and suffocated with a surgical glove for a long time while being questioned about her husband's murder.
"I don't know how many times I was suffocated. I lost count. You cannot count when it's being done over and over again. The police would suffocate me and then ask if I wanted to say something.
"I would lift up my finger, and they would remove the glove. And if I did not say anything they would suffocate me again," Sivhidzho said.
She said police tortured, intimidated and threatened her until she admitted to killing her husband Avhatakali Netshisaulu.
Netshisaulu was hijacked and locked inside the boot of his car before it was set alight in Muldersdrift in December 2006.
"And when I did not shed any tears during the torture, they would tell me I was ingakara (a person in control).
Earlier, she told the court that in her understanding, ingakara was a stubborn person. "I was not being stubborn. What was being done to me was painful. I thought they were going to kill me."
Sivhidzho agreed with prosecutor Maro Papachristoforou when she said what she (Sivhidzho) meant was that "the police broke you emotionally and physically".
"They broke your soul," Papachristoforou said.
The trial continues.
'I THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO KILL ME'
MULALO Sivhidzho feared that police would eventually kill her if she did not cooperate.
MULALO Sivhidzho feared that police would eventually kill her if she did not cooperate.
Sivhidzho told the Johannesburg high court yesterday that she was tortured and suffocated with a surgical glove for a long time while being questioned about her husband's murder.
"I don't know how many times I was suffocated. I lost count. You cannot count when it's being done over and over again. The police would suffocate me and then ask if I wanted to say something.
"I would lift up my finger, and they would remove the glove. And if I did not say anything they would suffocate me again," Sivhidzho said.
She said police tortured, intimidated and threatened her until she admitted to killing her husband Avhatakali Netshisaulu.
Netshisaulu was hijacked and locked inside the boot of his car before it was set alight in Muldersdrift in December 2006.
"And when I did not shed any tears during the torture, they would tell me I was ingakara (a person in control).
Earlier, she told the court that in her understanding, ingakara was a stubborn person. "I was not being stubborn. What was being done to me was painful. I thought they were going to kill me."
Sivhidzho agreed with prosecutor Maro Papachristoforou when she said what she (Sivhidzho) meant was that "the police broke you emotionally and physically".
"They broke your soul," Papachristoforou said.
The trial continues.