'We forgive her,' says uncle of alleged NW family killer
The maternal uncle of a North West woman accused of orchestrating the murders of her parents and two siblings says they have chosen to forgive her regardless of what the outcome of the trial of the 2016 murders will be.
Onthatile Sebati appeared in the High Court in Pretoria where she faces charges relating to the murder of her policeman father constable Lucky Sebati, his wife Matshepo, and their two children – a pregnant Tshegofatso, and three-year-old Quinton Sebati.
Sebati’s uncle, Donald Brown, says he was pleasantly surprised when he was given an opportunity to briefly speak with his niece in court.
“I was even surprised when the policewoman called me and she told me that Onthatile would like to have a talk with me. Then I said ‘with pleasure. I just talked to her nicely and I was so happy because she was arrested it was for the first time that I spoke with her. I told her that she should not worry because on our side, on the maternal side, all of us, we just said we forgive her. Then I told her that I forgive her myself as an individual,” he said.
Sebati has remained in custody since her December 2021 arrest after failing to post bail in January, while her two co-accused Kagiso and Tumelo Mokone are out on R10,000 bail.
Brown says while he was shocked that the trio has pleaded not guilty and claimed to have been assaulted and threatened into confessing, he is hopeful that the trial will reveal the truth about the murders.
He says his niece said she is sorry.
“I just told her [Onthatile] to tell the court the real truth from the beginning up until the time she [allegedly] confessed and she promised me that she will do that.”
He says the family has taken the stance of forgiveness because, despite the shocking developments, the 21-yer-old is his sister’s child and the sole survivor of the deadly alleged robbery.
At the same time, Sebati’s paternal family says the two-weeks long court process has already begun to take its toll on them.
Peter Ratlhagane is the uncle of Sebati’s deceased father.
“It’s really affecting us because in the first place we have to travel to court every day and it’s postponements. We would like to understand exactly why this thing happened; why did she do that, if she did it because as it is now it’s only speculation- we are not sure,” he said.
Ratlhagane says while he is desperate for the truth, he’s made no attempts to speak with Sebati nor has she tried to reach out to him.
Court will resume on Tuesday with the defense expected to call Tumelo Mokone to the stand in the trial-within-a-trial into the admissibility of the alleged confessions.
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