Police detective was not trained to probe murder

This was revealed when Judge Robert Henney subpoenaed two additional witnesses to testify after the state and defence had closed their cases on 11 August.

“During the court proceedings various claims by other witnesses were made about two police and the manner they conducted the case. It is in the interest of justice for the court to call them to assist in coming to a fair and just decision,” Henney said.

Peter, her husband Isaac Mbadu and co-accused Azola Dayimani and Christopher Dina, are on trial in the Western Cape High Court for the kidnapping, assault and murder of Rowan du Preez in early hours of 13 October 2012.

The couple say they were sleeping at home at the time of the attack. They also claim that they have been framed by police because of Peter’s disagreements with police in the course of her work with the Social Justice Coalition(SJC).

Detective constable Stanford Warren Muthian of Mfuleni police station was called to the stand on 11 August.

He told the court while he had worked as a detective constable for eight years, he only went for formal detective training in January this year and was yet to finish the practical assessment.

Asked to recall the weekend of Du Preez’s murder, Muthian said he had been on standby and had been assigned to the case by his branch commander.

“I was roughly informed about the incident and was told that witnesses would be waiting for me at the station. When I got there, I interviewed some of the witnesses with the help of other police officers,” he said.

Muthian said one of the witnesses had identified the accused and they had been arrested.

Henney asked Muthian if he had become aware of the accused’s alibis.

He was shown a newspaper article from his police docket which detailed Peter and Mbadu’s defence, including their alibi.

At the time, Mfuleni police were alerted to the article by provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer.

“I can’t recall if their lawyers mentioned it during the bail application. I investigate a lot of cases. I didn’t know I was going to testify here so I haven’t gone through the docket to refresh my memory. I don’t think I was asked to give any comment on the article,” he said.

Henney asked why Muthian couldn’t remember the correspondence, pointing out it would be uncommon for Lamoer to make contact during a murder investigation.

“We are under a lot of pressure. I can’t recall everything in depth,” Muthian said.

Defence attorney William King questioned Muthian about witnesses who testified that he had omitted certain details in their statements and that he had used one witness as an interpreter during another witness’s statement.

“I commission whatever I write down in front of the person. I didn’t take all of the statements so I will have to go through the docket again to be sure. I don’t see anything wrong with using a civilian (as an interpreter) if an officer isn’t available,” Muthian said.

King asked for the matter to be finalised within the next week as there was no longer funding for lawyers.

“Funds for our representation ran out three months ago and there is no certainty with regard to fees at this stage. If the matter isn’t finalised soon we would have to withdraw as legal counsel. We ask that the matter reaches a speedy finality,” he said.

Henney said if there were no unforeseen delays, the case could be finalised next week.