Msimango trial under way

BURGLARY SUSPECT ‘SLAPPED AROUND, INTERROGATED’ OVER WEEKEND

Haggard, wearing tan slacks and an informal black jacket zipped to his neck while clutching a towel, Nkosinathi Msimango appeared before Randburg magistrate Theosophy Leshaba yesterday.

He faces the charge of breaking into the chief justice’s office and that of theft, for allegedly stealing 15 computers with the judges’ personal information.

Msimango surrendered to police on Friday following an appeal last week by acting police commissioner Lieutenant-General Kgomotso Phahlane.

He is the fourth suspect to be arrested, and the first to appear in court for these particular charges.

His alleged brother Given Msimango and cousin Bigboy Yose, who appeared in the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court, have been charged with the possession of an unlicensed firearm. The fourth suspect was released due to a lack of evidence.

Prosecutor Linda Dlamini’s request for a seven-day postponement for further investigation so detectives could verify Msimango’s address was met with objections from his defence, advocate Marchand Kilian.

He noted Msimango had been received “by 20 detectives”, to whom he had handed himself over, and “they had the whole weekend to verify his address”.

Kilian also complained Msimango had been booked out of the cells and taken to Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, where he “had been slapped around and interrogated”.

He said Msimango had also been taken by detectives to two addresses: one where his mother lived, and the other where he lived with his fiancée and baby.

Kilian said the police had no evidence and wanted to keep Msimango inside while they looked for some.

“He handed himself over after it was published in the media that police were looking for him. He knows nothing about the matter,” Kilian said.

But Dlamini said police wanted to establish the value of the computers, something Kilian scoffed at, saying they had since March 22 to do so.

In the end, Lashaba gave Dlamini her remand, but only until Friday, when Msimango – who remains in custody –must reappear.