A 27-year-old Zimbabwean man, Wellington Kachidza, dubbed the Pretoria “serial killer” in South Africa has pleaded guilty to multiple counts of extortion, murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and rape in the Gauteng High Court.
Kachidza appeared in the high court yesterday, where he
pleaded guilty for a spate of murder cases, robbery, contravention of the
Immigration Act, and rape he committed across Pretoria.
In total, Kachidza pleaded guilty to eight counts of
kidnapping, eight counts of extortion, eight counts of robbery with aggravating
circumstances, five counts of murder, three counts of rape and contravention of
the Immigration Act.
The court accepted his plea agreement and postponed the
matter to today in order to set a date for sentencing as well as to give the
State the opportunity to acquire the pre-sentencing report should Kachidza
elect to participate.
According to media reports, Kachidza would pick his victims
at random from filling stations, retail complexes, train stations and committed
the murders at various places across Pretoria, including Eersterust, Denneboom,
Soshanguve, Wonderboom, and Haakdooringboom.
In pleading guilty to the charges, he explained that his
modus operandi was to lure his victims by informing them that he had bought a
motor vehicle but did not have a driver’s licence, and simply wanted someone
who could help him drive the car.
The agreement he gave his victims was that he would give
them money for helping him out.
Along the way he would then inform his victims he knew of a
shortcut to get to the plot where the motor vehicle was, and then he would then
attack them, usually by hitting them with a stone on the head.
Kachidza would then tie his victims up using their
shoelaces and order them to call their relatives and inform them they had been
kidnapped and would only be released following a deposit into the victim’s
account.
The families of the victims deposited varying amounts from
R2 000, R1 500, or R1 200 into the accounts.
After picking up the deposit notifications he would then
proceed to crush his victim’s heads with a rock and leave their bodies on a
mountain.
In cases where women were involved, he admitted to luring
the women to come with him as he had found employment on plots nearby for them.
His modus operandi was also similar, as he would advise
that he knew a shortcut to the plots, after which he threatened to kill them if
they did not comply with his demands.
With the women, he demanded they call their families and
instruct them to send money into their accounts to secure their release, during
that time he instructed the women to take off their clothes and he proceeded to
rape them. Herald
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