The biological father of teenage murderer Shandel Kisten, says he made up his daughter’s guilty plea.
|||In yet another bizarre turn in the trial of teenage murderer Shandel Kisten, her biological father now claims that intricate details of his daughter’s guilty plea were “thought up” by him and she merely told the court this version of events.
Durban Regional Court magistrate Anand Maharaj will hand down his judgment in the case on Thursday.
Kisten was 15 when she pleaded guilty to the murder of her stepfather Selvanathan Chetty, in 2009. Police had initially believed Chetty committed suicide, but then Kisten confessed to the murder.
She said in her guilty plea that she acted alone in drugging Chetty with sleeping tablets and then strangling him with a dressing gown belt.
However, in April, before she could be sentenced, Kisten changed her tune and said her mother Lucy Chetty, had been the mastermind behind the murder plot.
She said Chetty had put the sleeping tablets in her stepfather’s tea and then had started to strangle him, but he had overpowered her. Her mother had then asked for her help.
She said she had agreed to plead guilty to the murder because she was worried about who would look after her younger siblings if her mother went to jail.
But that changed when she realised if she went to jail, her own six-month-old baby would be deprived of a mother.
Maharaj then changed Kisten’s plea to not guilty and the matter had to go to trial.
On Wednesday, Kisten’s biological father Gordon Kisten, testified that he had suspected that a murder had taken place.
He claims he then put forth his version of how the murder happened and suggested it to Kisten.
His version included “spiking of food” and strangulation.
“I guessed what happened and she used that story in her guilty plea almost word for word.”
Gordon also said Chetty, his ex-wife, had told him of her involvement in the murder.
Maharaj then repeatedly asked Gordon why he had not stopped his daughter from pleading guilty.
“Why did you not stop her from pleading guilty? You could have made a statement to the police. There was an injustice taking place and you could have stopped it.”
Prosecutor Val Melis said Gordon was coming forward at the eleventh hour to exculpate his daughter and implicate his former wife.
“What you are telling the court is a fabrication based on assumption, gossip and rumour.”
Kisten’s attorney Siven Samuel closed his case on Wednesday after Maharaj refused another postponement for two more witnesses to testify.
Samuel said the witnesses had been present when Chetty had implicated herself in the murder.
Maharaj said their testimonies would have no real value as Chetty was not going to testify to confirm or deny their statements.
In closing arguments, Melis said the court should convict Kisten on her initial guilty plea.
“This case is very peculiar because there have been several versions put before the court. However, the State submits that the evidence of Gordon Kisten must be rejected as it was riddled with inconsistencies. The accused (Kisten) must be convicted on what she said in her guilty plea as that was the strongest version put before the court.”
Samuel argued that Chetty’s refusal to testify must be seen as adding credibility to Kisten’s story.
“My client has been carefully manipulated by her mother. She is a victim of loyalty, she was trying to protect her siblings from being left without a mother. She could have easily said she had nothing to do with the murder, but she has implicated herself and her second version of being an accomplice is more probable.” - The Mercury