“Hey boy, I want to know what happened last night? Why did you kill that innocent young girl? Do you know she is a well-known YouTube influencer? She even appeared on TV. This is a high profile case, and trust me, boy, when I say you will rot in jail.”

The police officer was holding me by the chains that were used to lock both my wrists. I ignored him, because I knew I didn’t have to explain myself to someone who was busy swearing at me whilst he didn’t know what happened. After a while, I went back to the cell and waited.

The following morning, I was told that I would be transferred to a prison. I couldn’t believe that I would end up in prison one day. Prison is a place for criminals, not me, I am innocent. I was shouting at the police officers who were grabbing me and forcing me inside a police car. It all felt like a dream.

I was now inside the prison cell, with people who have committed serious offences. They were all telling their stories and things they have done in life. When I opened my mouth and told them what happened that day, they were all amused, some of them were feeling sorry for me, some praised Aphelele for what he did and some were also blaming me for letting it happen.

I spent almost a week inside prison. My brother never showed up, not even once. I thought he was mad at me or he found out why I was arrested and couldn’t face me. A few days later, I was in Court for my bail hearing, and guess what? My bail was denied. A lawyer was provided for me by the state, and he told me that the community was looking for me everywhere. They had apparently promised to kill me if ever they saw me anywhere, so it was actually a good thing that my bail was denied.

That day, I saw my brother in court and I was given another date where the court would look into my case and see which verdict I will fall under. I went back to the prison cell and spent two weeks with no one visiting. But one lucky day, my brother decided to come by, and I was shocked to see him.

“Abhuti,” I said as soon as I saw him.

“What happened to you Kagiso, was this your way of grieving Koko, by killing an innocent soul and raping her? This is not you, Kagiso. Why did you even lie to me by saying you were going to study. Why? Did I not teach you to respect women? did I not tell you, that no means no? Man, you raped her, how will you … argg Kagiso, I don’t even know why I came here.”

While my brother was talking, I was looking down and crying.

“You can’t cry, you cannot dare to cry,” my brother said. “You killed a woman, she was only 21, Kagiso. You’re only 18. I never raised you to be an animal, Koko never did. Did we Kagiso?”

“No abhuti.”

“Then why did you rape and kill an innocent soul?”

“I did not.”

“So how did your fingerprints get to the murder weapon? And trust me son, if those results come negative, if your semen is found in her, you going down.”

“No I did not rape her, we had sex that night in the bathroom and we did not use condom. Bro! trust me, Aphelele framed me. He killed her and he gave the knife to me. It was not me.”

“F**ck Kagiso, you trying so hard to make this look like you did not do it. I’m your brother talk to me, I’ll help, tell me everything.”

“But bro! Everything I said is true, I swear on Koko’s grave. That day, I wasn’t planning to go anywhere until Aphelele came and convinced me to go. The next thing, I’m in a bathroom drunk, having sex with Palesa. Then I saw Aphelele pulling her with a knife in his hands. I would never kill anyone, I swear! If only Palesa was still alive, things would be better,”

“Okay, okay calm down, I trust you. Do you know Aphelele’s home address, I need to visit his parents.”

“No, you’ll have to ask my class teacher for that.”

“Okay, I’ll go to her, and I’ll make sure you’re free. But only if you’re innocent, bro! Trust me, if you did this, I’ll make sure you rot in here,”

After my brother left that day, I started having hope that he will make sure that he finds out what happened that fateful Friday night.

Tell us: Will Kagiso’s innocence be proven? Motivate your answer.