Accused in Meghan Cremer murder says cops beat him, made him confess under duress

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Cape Town - The 27-year-old suspect accused of murdering Meghan Cremer, 46, claimed he was repeatedly assaulted by police before making a confession. “I was arrested on the night of August 5, 2019, at my home in Siqalo squatter camp. I was informed that I was being arrested in connection with a stolen motor vehicle. I was systematically interrogated and beaten up at 30- to 45-minute intervals by members of the SAPS from August 5 up until the evening of August 7. “I denied any knowledge of this matter for a period of roughly three days from my time of arrest until August 7, when the assaults had reached the point that I could no longer handle it, after which the police involuntarily obtained a statement from me,” Jeremy Sias said in his affidavit handed in during his bail application in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. Sias, who worked at the Vaderlandsche Rietvlei stables until his arrest, is charged with Cremer’s murder as well as robbery with aggravating circumstances. His two co-accused, Charles Daniels, 39, and Shiraaz Jaftha, 34, who also applied for bail, face charges of theft of a motor vehicle and defeating the ends of justice.

Cremer went missing on August 3. Her body was found after Sias made a confession and led the police to the place where her remains were found on a sand mine at a Philippi farm on August 8.

Sias’s affidavit further states he does not know the identity of the state witnesses, nor will he interfere with them once released on bail and that he does not pose a danger to any particular person.

Daniels and Jaftha claimed they had no knowledge of the murder or the theft of the motor vehicle.

State prosecutor Emily van Wyk told the court it was the first time that the State had heard about the information revealed in court and would need some time to verify it.

The State will deliver arguments on why the three accused should not be released on bail, next Friday.

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