One of the alleged hitmen in the Taliep Petersen murder trial told the Cape High Court on Wednesday he wanted to change his plea to guilty.

Waheed Hassen's surprise move came in the middle of a trial-within-a-trial, in which he has been contesting the admissibility of a confession he made to police.

"I want to tell the court that I made a mistake by pleading not guilty and I want to change my plea to guilty if possible," he told Judge Siraj Desai at the start of proceedings on Wednesday.

He said that all the information in the lengthy statements he made, in which he detailed his role in Taliep's execution style slaying, had come from his own personal knowledge.

He had previously maintained that police instructed him what to say.

Questioned by Desai, he said he had indeed been assaulted by police when he was arrested, but that this did not have a bearing on his making the confessions.

His move apparently took his advocate Jonathan Scott by surprise.

Desai adjourned proceedings to allow Scott to consult his client.

Hassen, in a black shirt and sunglasses, smiled as a policeman put handcuffs on him before leading him down to the cells.

In one of the confessions, read out in court earlier this week, he had written: "As a Muslim with a fear of losing the love of Allah, I committed a terrible sin."

Also on trial are Petersen's wife Najwa, Abdoer Emjedi and Jefferson Snyders.

Sapa