News24.com | Hout Bay murder accused now questions whether rights were read to him

The trial of a man accused of the rape and murder of a 12-year-old boy in Hout Bay was adjourned to Monday.

• The trial of a man accused of the rape and murder of a 12-year-old boy in Hout Bay was adjourned to Monday. 
• More witnesses are expected to be called to testify. 
• Sibusiso Dakuse disappeared on 26 February 2020 and was found dead in reeds near a horse trail two days later.

The murder trial of the Hout Bay basketball coach accused of raping and murdering 12-year-old schoolboy Sibusiso Dakuse was adjourned until Monday for a new witness to testify. 

The adjournment came at the end of a second trial-within-a-trial over whether he was adequately informed of his rights when he was arrested. 

The first trial-within-a-trial was over whether he gave consent for police to fetch a basketball shirt from his house in the course of the investigation.

Marvin Minnaar pleaded not guilty to the rape and murder of Sibusiso. 

Sibusiso, a budding soloist, disappeared on 26 February 2020, but his family only realised he was missing on 27 February because he lived between his granny's house and his mother's house in Imizamo Yethu, Hout Bay.

His father last saw him safe and sound from behind the steering wheel of his taxi as he passed his son on the way home from school in his scholar transport on the afternoon of 26 February. 

READ | Sibusiso Dakuse murder: Dad testifies about agonising wait for missing son

In the course of a search, CCTV footage was taken at a horse trail near Imizamo Yethu, and footage of a footpath leading off the horse trial. The clips showed a man and a boy walking along the path at two different times on that day. 

In the first, a child whose parents have not come forward, is seen going into the footpath with a man, then leaving. But in the second series of clips, the man is seen chasing a different boy, who the State says is Sibusiso. This boy is taken off the horse trail, onto the footpath, and then into reeds off the footpath and is not seen again. 

The man was wearing a number 7 basketball shirt. 

When Sibusiso's body was found by police in the reeds off the footpath, Minnaar was taken into custody and asked what he was wearing the day Sibusiso went missing.

He coached basketball over the road from Imizamo Yethu at a basketball court, and at a high school in the area, so was well known.

He said he was wearing his basketball shirt and, according to the State, agreed to go with police officers to fetch it. 

The purpose of the first trial-within-a-trial was to establish whether he gave consent for the search of his bedroom to fetch the shirt. 

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Judge Constance Nziweni ruled that the police did have consent, and the number 7 shirt was admitted as evidence. 

But now the State and Minnaar's defence are at odds over whether he was properly informed of his rights. 

In terms of South African law, a person being questioned by the police must be read their rights and then sign an A41 form to say their rights have been read to them, and they understand what was said to them.

This might have implications for other admissions the State intends making, and the witnesses still to come include a person who purportedly took down a "confession".