The Montclair man convicted of hiring a hit man to murder his wife says he can't remember making a confession or pleading guilty.
|||Durban - The Montclair man convicted of hiring a hit man to murder his wife in a staged hijacking, testified in court in the hopes of being granted a new trial.
Rajiv Sewnarain, 48, launched a review application before KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Achmat Jappie and Judge Dhaya Pillay in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday, claiming he was assaulted by police, forced into making a confession and could not remember pleading guilty to his wife Shanaaz’s murder.
Sewnarain was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2010.
He launched a review application in the Pietermaritzburg High Court last year to have his conviction and sentence handed down in the Durban Regional Court, set aside and for a new trial to start.
Sewnarain maintained he was “not in his sound and sober senses” when he pleaded guilty to killing his wife and signed a confession written by the investigating officer.
Sewnarain, a former truck repair company owner, told the court that on the night of the incident, December 11, 2010, he and his wife had gone to buy pizza.
On the way back home they stopped at his workplace to pick up wage slips. He claimed they were at a stop sign when they were confronted by a gunman. He said the man jumped into the back seat and instructed him to “keep driving”.
“He pointed a gun at me and told me it was a hijacking. He asked for our valuables, and my wife and I handed him my wallet, her handbag and our cellphones,” Sewnarain said.
After driving for a while he said the gunman told him to pull over.
“He told me to take my watch off and it fell to the floor. When I reached down to pick it up he shot me in my shoulder. My wife screamed and the next thing I heard was another shot go off. He shot my wife.”
Sewnarain told the court the gunman pulled him out the car. He said the gunman pushed him into an awaiting vehicle that was apparently following them. Two suspects drove off with him, leaving behind his car and dead wife.
He claimed the men demanded the pin code to his bank card and when he could not remember it, they pushed him out of the car.
Sewnarain testified to accompanying the police a few days later on the route of the alleged hijacking and said he was interrogated at the police station.
A few days after, he underwent surgery to remove the bullet from his shoulder. He claimed he was visited by the investigating officer and told to sign a prepared statement.
“I did not know what I was signing. I was in pain,” Sewnarain said.
On December 20, Sewnarain’s brother, Amrithlal, asked him to accompany him to their lawyer’s office. At the office, his brother asked if he was involved in his wife’s murder.
After a verbal and physical exchange between the brothers, which ended with Sewnarain being slapped, he said he agreed to “take the blame for everything”.
“She was my wife. My in-laws didn’t believe me. My brothers had doubts. I just lost everything. My whole world fell apart. I loved my wife. There was no sense in living, so I said I would take the blame.”
Sewnarain was arrested and taken to Isipingo police station where he claimed he was repeatedly assaulted and interrogated.
“They told me this assault was just the start. I was in pain and I told them I would confess. The next thing I knew I was in the Durban Magistrate’s Court.”
On December 22, 2010, Sewnarain appeared in the Durban Regional Court, represented by a lawyer he claimed he had never seen before.
He was brought documents and asked to sign them, which he did. “I have no idea what I signed. I was not aware I was pleading guilty to killing my wife and I was not aware that I was facing life in prison. I did not understand what was going on.”
Sewnarain was to be cross-examined on Tuesday.
Daily News
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