Threats against Feni: no evidence against accused

Cellphone used has not been found, officer says

THE investigating officer in the trial of a Mdantsane man accused of sending threatening text messages to Hawks provincial spokeswoman Captain Anelisa Feni has admitted in court that he had no idea who sent the messages to Feni.

In addition, Hawks investigator Captain Luphumlo Lwana revealed that the phone and sim card from which the messages were sent had not been recovered by police.

He told the court he was relying on a confession by the accused, Sithembele April, 41, last November, during which he allegedly said he had sent the messages and that he was prepared to hand over the cellphone he had used to the police.

However, that never materialised, and Lwana has had to concede that the phone number used to send Feni the messages was not registered in April’s name. Lwana was testifying in April’s trial, in which he is accused of intimidating Feni in an SMS sent in September, in which he allegedly threatened to kill her if she did not resign from the Hawks within two days.

April is also charged with trying to escape from police custody.

Initially, he faced two counts of intimidation, but the case involving alleged intimidation of ECDC CEO Ndzondelelo Dlulane was withdrawn by the state when the trial resumed last month.

Lwana, the state’s third witness in the trial, on Friday took a swipe at state prosecutor Khaya Makwakwa, accusing him of withdrawing the Dlulane case behind his back.

Lwana told regional court magistrate Dan Ngoqo that Makwakwa had consulted him about the planned withdrawal, “but I never agreed for him to do that”.

“I told him I was against the case being withdrawn as it was the one that led us to arrest the accused for the Captain Feni intimidation case.

“Even at the bail hearing, I testified against the accused being granted bail. Fortunately it was denied.

“But I was shocked when the state here agreed for him to be released on bail when the trial resumed, without my knowledge or consent as the investigating officer,” he said.

Lwana told the court that the only cellphone recovered from April linked him to the Dlulane intimidation case and not to Feni’s.

Asked by defence attorney Mkhuseli Nosilela as to why his client had been arrested and was standing trial for intimidating Feni, Lwana said he had no idea.

“I was not there when he was arrested.”

Nosilela then put it to him that April had been arrested illegally, and he had now applied to court for the charges to be withdrawn against his client, saying there was no

case or concrete evidence presented in court linking April to the texts to Feni.

Lwana told the court that April’s escape charges stemmed from an incident on November 19 when police escorted April to Mdantsane to look for the cellphone used to allegedly send messages to Feni.

He said he was cuffed, but when they pulled over, the handcuffs were unlocked from one side and April tried to run away, but was later captured after police fired warning shots.

Ngoqo reserved his judgment until June 29. —