By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Bafana Mahungela who was arrested in connection with the murder of a schoolteacher Kirsten Klutys in Sandton in October, says he wasn’t aware she was pregnant at the time of her death.
Mahungela appeared in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court for a bail application on Monday.
The state is opposing his release on bail.
The 21-year-old Varsity College student is facing charges of rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances and premeditated murder in connection to Kluyts’ death.
Kluyts, a teacher at Delta Park High School, was attacked while participating in the MyRun event in Sandton on 29 October 2023.
Her body was found at George Lea Park in Parkmore hours after her disappearance.
The victim’s running shoes, sunglasses, blue T-shirt, pants, and pink cap were taken.
Mahungela was subsequently arrested at the Varsity College student residence in Benmore on 26 November after the police obtained video footage from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the vicinity of Parkmore.
The matter kicked off with a continuation of the accused’s evidence, which was led by his lawyer advocate Itumeleng Masako.
The better part of the morning was spent examining photos taken at the pyjama party the accused allegedly attended the Saturday before the murder, at the sports club and of Kluyts during her walk before her death.
Masako used these images to try to provide proof of the accused’s whereabouts between the two days.
Some of the images shared showed a man wearing a blue shirt, hat and sunglasses. The shirt appears to be the same one Kluyts was wearing shortly before her murder. The suspect confirmed it was her shirt he was wearing when he was captured on CCTV footage.
Another photograph showed the suspect at the party with his girlfriend and other guests. In it he is seen wearing what appears to be the same hat.
Throughout, the accused insisted he had no intention to kill or rob anyone.
“I think you wouldn’t be right in your mind if that’s how you think. I can’t just come from a party the previous day, going home to submit an assignment and decide, ‘ja, I’m going to kill someone now’. What does that benefit me?” he said.
He denied that police read him his rights or produced a search warrant on the day of his arrest. He alleged he was assaulted by several officers, including the investigating officer assigned to the case, who was present on both days of his bail application.
He, however, conceded that he wore Kluyts’ shirt as alleged by the state.
The suspect explained that he found her body, but took off her clothes so that he would not be implicated as he had contaminated the crime scene.
“I took the clothes and then I ran. I was running away because I was shocked that I was just with a dead body so if I leave my fingerprints there, they gonna say I am the one that killed her so it’s better I leave with what I touched and I go, “he said.
Masako asked his client why didn’t he go back to the police.
“I didn’t want to go to jail,” Mahungela responded.
The accused later broke down in tears as he read a doctor’s letter about the condition of his mother’s health since his arrest into the record.
Prosecutor Ayanda Bakana began his cross-examination after a lengthy morning and afternoon taken up by the man concluding his testimony.
Bakana tried to dismantle the “good picture” the defence had spent hours painting by scrutinising the accused’s academic record and his actions when he allegedly discovered her body at the Sandton sports club.
Bakana also pressed the accused on whether he would dispute that Kluyts was one of the participants of the MyRun event at the club and that she had previously taken part in their events.
The accused repeatedly said he would not dispute these facts as he had no knowledge of this information.
And again, on that day as she was one of the people involved [in the run] she was pregnant, you will not dispute that … you don’t know about it?” Bakana asked, to which the accused concurred.
He insisted he did not know Kluyts until he came across her covered body next to the park’s jogging trail. He also denied following or meeting her at any point before her death.