Durban — The defence attorney acting for Mariannhill police sergeant Ayanda Doctor Ntombela, who is charged with murder, accused the Independent Police Investigative Directorate of violating his client’s rights by proceeding with a pointing-out without his lawyer being present.
Musawenkosi Mkhize, who is representing Ntombela, submitted in the Pinetown Magistrates’ Court that in an instance where an accused had an attorney, and especially where the police were aware of this, it was not for police officers to take instructions from an accused.
“And the witness (the Ipid investigating officer) interacted with the lawyer on the phone, and (the lawyer) said: ‘I am coming – not now, but later.’ When the rights of the accused are at stake, it’s not for the officer to take instructions from an accused. And to do things without his attorney (being present) is a clear violation of his Constitutional rights,” said Mkhize during Ntombela’s bail application.
Ntombela allegedly took Sihle Mtshare in for questioning on August 21, and he then disappeared. His body was found in Camperdown 18 days later.
Previously in the bail hearing, it emerged that Ntombela had pointed out to police where Mtshare’s body had been dumped.
Handling the case, Ipid’s assistant director, Madoda Zulu, had previously testified in court that Ntombela had confided in a person expected to testify in the matter that he (Ntombela) had received a telephone call tipping him off about the location of Mtshare’s body in Camperdown.
Zulu told the court that Ntombela took them to that location, where a body was found by a police sniffer dog.
He told the court that they had proceeded with Ntombela to the location where the body was found “because his lawyer was held up somewhere”, and added that they were verifying the tip he said he had received on the location of the body.
On the last day of the hearing on Wednesday, before it was adjourned for a ruling this week, Mkhize said Zulu had testified that Ntombela’s rights had been explained to him, and he had said he wanted his attorney present.
It is alleged that on September, 7, some 17 days after Mtshare’s disappearance, Ntombela returned the deceased’s phone to his family after being asked to do so by the investigators.
This was something the State re-examined Zulu about while he was in the witness box, where state prosecutor B Mncwango asked if there was any truth to the notion that Ntombela had handed himself over to the police and, moreover, that it was through his co-operation that the deceased’s body and his cellphone had been recovered.
“I disagree with that… If the applicant was co-operative, he should have come clean on the first day the deceased went missing. He waited 17 days before giving his cellphone back, and then on the 18th day, the body was recovered.
“In addition, he submitted a sworn affidavit to his attorney where he denied knowing the deceased,” Zulu said.
Daily News