KRISTEN VAN SCHIE
Was evidence tampered with in the Jub Jub murder case?
This is the question defence attorney Ike Motloung posed yesterday in cross-examining witnesses who had handled the urine samples of Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye and his co-accused Themba Tshabalala.
These were the same urine samples that metro cops had collected on March 8 last year about two hours after an accident that left four schoolboys dead and two seriously injured.
Preliminary results from the “drug smart” cups picked up cocaine and morphine in the urine of both accused. This result was confirmed 11 days later when the samples were analysed at the Department of Health’s forensic lab in Braamfontein.
According to forensic analyst José van Rooyen, the samples had also contained codeine and paracetamol, among other compounds.
Investigating officer Mpho Matshidiso testified to receiving the samples on March 9, the day after the accident. It wasn’t until March 18 that he delivered them to the laboratory because he had been waiting for approval from the senior prosecutor at the Protea Magistrate’s Court.
It was this interim period of nine days that Motloung homed in on yesterday.
According to Matshidiso, the samples were kept in a sealed bag, in a locked filing cabinet, in his locked office – an office shared with the other investigating officer in the matter, Captain Moses Segapo.
“Do you know if he (Segapo) tampered with these exhibits or not before he gave them to you?” asked Motloung.
“I wouldn’t know,” responded Matshidiso.
“The urine samples were in containers that anyone who wanted to could have opened,” insisted the lawyer.
“I received them in a sealed bag,” responded the cop.
“Sealed by Segapo?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
Attempts to get further answers from Matshidiso about his colleague were met with a determined silence.
Motloung said he would need “guarantees” that no evidence had been tampered with.
The case continues.