Alleged Pretoria serial killer appears in court
"He is accused of kidnapping his victims and demanding ransom from the families of his victims before killing them."
A man accused of murdering security guards and petrol attendants will appear again in the North Gauteng High Court on February 17.
Willington Kachidza is accused of kidnapping his victims and demanding ransom from their families before killing them.
Khachidza, who is facing 35 charges, is believed to have taken his victims from across Pretoria.
These charges include five counts of murder, eight counts of kidnapping, eight counts of extortion, seven counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, five counts of theft, two counts of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm and contravention of the Immigration Act.
Following his last appearance in court on Wednesday, Kachidza’s defence lawyer told Judge Hendrik de Vos that Kachidza intends to plead guilty to some of the charges.
One of the victim’s family members Mmankitseng Magoro attended the court proceedings.
She said her nephew, Tebatso Mogoatlho, was kidnapped after knocking off at a job he had only worked for three weeks.
Magoro said her sister received a call from unknown persons demanding that she pay R5 000 or they were going to kill Mogoatlho.
“His mother could hear him pleading with her to do something. She managed to get R2 000 because she was a domestic worker and was a pensioner.”
She said three weeks after the ordeal, Mogoatlho’s remains were found in a mountain between Mamelodi and Eersterust.
“We were called to go to the government mortuary, sadly we only found bones. He was kidnapped on 28 November 2020 and we received a call that he was found on December 20, 2020. We could not bury the body because forensics still wanted to do DNA testing.”
Magoro said Mogoatlho’s mother died three months after they buried him.
“I’m not only here for him but his mother as well. This has hurt me a lot and I had to undergo counselling.”
Another family member of a victim, Bright Maphiri, said his brother was kidnapped around 06:00 after knocking off from a night swift.
Maphiri said at around 08:00 he received a call from his brother saying that he had been kidnapped.
“I thought he wanted money and was just being silly, but then I thought he would never do something like this.”
He said he received a call saying the kidnappers wanted R5 000 to let his brother go.
“I told them I couldn’t afford that, but we started negotiating and I reported it to the police. I sent R1 500 using e-Wallet then I sent R500 using PEP then my girlfriend sent R200 via e-Wallet. We are still traumatised as a family.”
Moses Magabo said his brother was the only remaining family member he had when he was kidnapped and killed.
“We didn’t have parents and I’m on my own now. I’m still struggling to cope. I didn’t know what was happening, I thought maybe it was people who knew us until I realised it was real.
“I feel pain because I’m still asking myself how can a person kill someone they do not even know. How can someone kill a person they don’t know for R2 000?”
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