Staff Reporter
The trial of a Goedemoed Correctional Centre warder believed to be at the centre of the killing of a female colleague and the rape of another by an inmate in March 2019 started in the Free State High Court this Monday.
Mojalefa Letele, 49, is said to have offered a pair of shoes and promised money to convicted criminal Jongikhaya Madala Sam-Sam, 38, to “intimidate” Nomsa Stuurman and a few other prison warders as he did not get along well with them.
Sam-Sam, who was already serving two life sentences for rape and attempted murder, was handed a further two life sentences by the Free State High Court in October last year after he was found guilty of killing Stuurman and raping the other female warder inside the prison.
He got an additional three years for kidnapping after he isolated the two women before attacking them.
Sam-Sam confessed that he had been asked by Letele to get other inmates to “remove” certain officers “from sight” as he was constantly having problems with them.
He told the court during trials that he was offered a pair of shoes and promised R100 000 to carry out the task but later decided to do it on his own as he also had issues with Stuurman because of the way she spoke to him.
A report issued by the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) which was also relied upon by the High Court found that Stuurman was killed by Sam-Sam when he took her hostage and hit her with a hammer in the head before stabbing her to death with a broken scissors.
It is believed Letele organised a hammer for the prisoner and a broken scissors to carry out the attack when he was taken out to clean some offices.
The inmate then took another woman hostage for several hours, during which time he raped her.
The report says the perpetrator entered the offices of the unit where he had been assigned to clean.
He then locked the steel ‘grill’ door to the offices with a padlock and barricaded the door with two tables.
He attacked Stuurman in her office with a hammer – allegedly normally used to test locks – and stabbed her to death with the broken scissors.
Thereafter, he took the other female officer hostage, threatening her with the scissors.
A police hostage negotiating team was called to work with the Department of Correctional Services officials.
However, during the negotiations, Sam-Sam requested time to pray alone, but instead took his hostage to a back office and raped her.
He eventually handed the keys for the padlock to the prison officers and surrendered.
The first state witness, who is an inmate at the prison, is expected to tell the courts the nature of relationship that existed between Letele and Sam-Sam.
Three different parties have launched a R70-million civil lawsuit against Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola for damages following the murder and the rape of the two women.
Stuurman’s widower, Nyanisile, is demanding R40-million while the rape survivor is pursuing a R20-million claim.
Stuurman’s estate has a further claim of R10-million.
The trial is set to run until August 14.