You tampered with evidence, Wisani tells detective

MURDER accused Patrick Wisani has accused a senior police officer of lying and tampering with the crime scene.

Wisani, who is defending himself, allegedly beat his girlfriend Nosipho Mandleleni to death with a broomstick and a sjambok last year.

Yesterday, while cross-examining Yeoville cop Captain Nomonde Qilingana, Wisani disputed her version of events.

Qilingana told the high court sitting in Randburg that Wisani fled the crime scene after Nosipho’s sister, Siphokazi, accused him of murdering her twin.

“While I was trying to listen to Patrick and to the lady who was screaming, Patrick ran through the corridor. I tried to call him, but he vanished.”

But Wisani said Qilingana asked him to leave so she could talk to the distraught Siphokazi in private. She denied this.

Wisani pointed to differences between Qilingana’s statement and police photos of the scene. He said pieces of evidence such as blood-spattered takkies and a sjambok were photographed in different locations to those in Qilingana’s statement.

He asked her why she had turned Nosipho’s body over for the photographer to photo- graph. “You tampered with the crime scene,” he said.

Qilingana responded: “I am a detective. I was doing my duty. I’ve been in the SAPS for 21 years and working as a detective for 12. I know my job.”

Gory details of Nosipho’s injuries emerged as Wisani read through Qilingana’s statement.

“The deceased was brutally assaulted all over; she was even bleeding from her vagina. I noticed bruises, marks all over her body, like a person who was beaten with wire,” it stated.

“There were bloodstains on the wall. I searched the room and found the sjambok with a bloodstain.”

Wisani’s cross-examination dragged on as he repeated the same questions until Judge Mohamed Ismail intervened.

The trial was expected to continue today.

@Gabi_Falanga