Warrants come under spotlight in perly case

A POLICEMAN who made a breakthrough arrest more than two years ago which led to the prosecution of an alleged poaching ring was quizzed yesterday on the validity of several search warrants.

Lawyers for racketeering accused Julian Brown, Eugene “Boesman” Victor and Brandon Turner claimed in the Port Elizabeth High Court that the warrants should be found inadmissible, meaning the arrests of the state’s Section 204 witnesses were unlawful.

As a result, their testimony should not be entertained.

Sergeant Trevor Shaw, of the Organised Crime Unit, said he had arrested a man along Marine Drive in March 2015 for the possession of perlemoen. From there, police followed up on several leads.

Yesterday, Shaw was tested on the procedure followed during the arrests of:

Renier Ellerbeck, bust in Marine Drive in March 2015, allegedly with 218 units of perlemoen;

Andre van Rensburg, a person identified only as Johantjie, Sheron Smith, Christiaan Koen and Edgar Clulow, allegedly caught poaching in April 2015;

J P van Zyl, busted in April 2015 allegedly in possession of 691 units of perlemoen;

Pierre Scholtz, caught in July 2015 for conducting an alleged fish processing establishment in Kamma Heights, where the cutting up, separating, cleaning, sorting, lining and preserving and packing of perlemoen took place; and

Jan Smuts, who allegedly conducted a fish-processing establishment on the premises of the Department of Correctional Services in North End in August 2015.

State advocate Martin le Roux said he planned to call them to testify for the state.

Advocate Terry Price SC said the warrant applications were not filled out correctly and that in some instances no warrants had been obtained at all.

Brown, 32, Victor, 33, and Turner, 38, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

It is alleged Brown headed the enterprise with Victor as his right-hand man and Turner working as an employee.

The trial continues.