Kirsten Kluyts’ suspected killer denies killing teacher but admits to wearing her shirt
The suspect accused of Kirsten Kluyts’ murder has denied being responsible for the death of the Johannesburg teacher, although he did admit to coming across her body.
Bafana 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.
CCTV footage leads to arrest
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 footage allegedly shows Mahungela leaving the area where the teacher’s body was found wearing her blue T-shirt.
The same footage also allegedly depicted the accused jumping over a locked gate at the Sandton Sports Club and captured him attempting to get rid of Kluyts’ clothes.
According to the state, Kluyts was struck with a blunt object before she was smothered and strangled until she died.
Constitutional rights
At the beginning of the proceedings, Mahungela’s lawyer, Advocate Itumeleng Masako, had intended to use the CCTV footage in the bail hearing.
But the state only provided him with still photos as it also planned to use the footage in the trial.
“As the state at this stage, we are not compelled to provide them with the copy of the footage,” state prosecutor Ayanda Bakana told the court.
Masako then took his client through a series of images of the George Lea Park vicinity as well as around the suspect’s student residence, where he claimed he was headed when he was erroneously dropped off by a taxi because he missed his stop while sleeping.
Mahungela said he wasn’t read his constitutional rights by the police during his arrest.
“He didn’t say anything to me. He just asked me ‘is this you on the photo?’. I said yes and they started putting handcuffs on and slapping me,” the accused said.
“He told my caretaker that I am being charged with murder,” he continued.
The suspect indicated that his constitutional rights weren’t read to him once again upon arrival at the police station, saying the police took his fingerprints.
He told the court that the officers instructed him to unlock his phone, but he was told he had a right to refuse.
“I opened because I wanted to show them the pictures from the pyjama party in Tsutsumani,” Mahungela explained.
The accused previously claimed that he was in the area the night before Kluyts’ body was found.
This is the image that places the 21-year old directly at the crime scene of Kirsten Kluyts. He was seen leaving wearing the same shirt she was wearing while on her run. He maintains though he didn’t rape or murder or but merely stumbled upon her body. #eNCA #KirstenKluyts pic.twitter.com/b4cVbBSsUa
— Heidi Giokos (@HeidiGiokos) December 18, 2023
‘How does that benefit me?’
Mahungela denied stalking, raping or killing Kluyts on the day of the race when she went missing, saying anyone who would suddenly have a thought of murdering another person would not be right in their mind.
“I can’t just come from a party the previous day, going home to go submit an assignment and decide ‘I’m going to kill someone now’. [How] does that benefit me?” the accused said.
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.
The accused becomes emotional after reading out a medical report on the poor health of his mother since learning of his arrest
Adv Masako: “Are you emotional? Why?”
The accused: “Yes, it’s my mother” #KirstenKluyts pic.twitter.com/nuF9C4iorf
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) December 18, 2023
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