Durban — The Durban Magistrate’s Court has found a warrant officer who had been attached to the controversial Durban Organised Crime Unit, also previously known as the Cato Manor “Death Squad”, not guilty of the 2010 murder of a 16-year-old boy.
Kwazi Ndlovu, 16, was shot while sleeping on a couch in the lounge of his Esikhawini home in Empangeni.
Acting magistrate V Alamachand delivered her ruling on judgment in the murder trial against Warrant Officer Gonasagren Padayachee on Tuesday where she said that the State had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused was the shooter.
Alamachand had to come to her judgment without forensic evidence in the form of ballistics.
It is alleged that members of the unit burst into Kwazi’s home and fired shots in his direction. Further, the unit allegedly later claimed that they were in pursuit of a prison escapee who was believed to be hiding in Kwazi’s home.
Padayachee’s warrant of arrest for him to appear in court in Esikhawini was obtained by the Director of Public Prosecution in KwaZulu-Natal last year and the matter was transferred to the Durban Regional Court.
Padayachee underwent a disciplinary hearing and was acquitted.
In her judgment, Alamachand said much of the evidence in the matter amounted to hearsay.
She explained that the teen’s mother had testified that she was shown the accused by another officer on the scene as having been in the house at the time of the shooting, but that particular officer was never called by the State to testify.
During the trial, Kwazi’s mother, Lindiwe Ndlovu, testified that she confronted the accused on scene and he had allegedly said that he was sorry but her son had a gun. This was not in her first statement taken soon after the incident as well as a follow-up 2012 statement.
“When it comes to inconsistencies in Mrs Ndlovu’s statement the court takes into consideration that the first one was taken down shortly after the incident. And when it comes to her further 2012 statement the court has taken into account possible language barriers. What is important is that in her viva voce evidence, she introduced new crucial evidence that was not in her statements. The court has considered Mrs Ndlovu’s explanation that she did not pay attention when it was read back to her and the statement was being taken down by someone else and not written by her,” said Alamachand.
She said therefore found that the evidence of the accused’s alleged utterances led by the teen’s mother was unreliable given that it was not in any of the two statements and was not corroborated by her husband, who was also on the scene, when he testified.
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