Maistry: 240 calls to co-accused

ALLEGED murder mastermind Alvin Maistry made more than 240 phone calls to his co-accused just weeks before his wife was kidnapped and slain, the Durban High Court has heard.

But he conceded that he did not make the one call – to the police – immediately after receiving a frantic SMS from his stepdaughter that her mom had been abducted – because he thought she had played a prank on him.

Maistry, 45, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife, Soraya ‘Charmaine’ Naidoo, 32.

Her body was found in an isolated area in Umbumbulu on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast shortly after she was kidnapped from her home and stabbed on February 18 last year.

Co-accused Mandlenkosi Zamokhhawakeh Jobe, 41, and Lucky John Manyathi, 28, have also denied the murder charges.

Naidoo ran a superette in Merebank and a takeaway in Jacobs. She had two children from a previous marriage and Maistry, three from a previous marriage.

Last week, Maistry, an inspector with the Department of Labour, was grilled by State advocate Nadira Moosa. Moosa wanted to know why:

■ He did he not use any of his three cellphones to phone police after his stepdaughter told him about the kidnapping.

■ It had taken him seven minutes and 30 seconds to respond to the distressing message.

■ He (on his own evidence) drove to another family home in Merebank instead of to his matrimonial home where the incident happened.

Maistry responded by saying that he went to the other home but did not get out of his vehicle. He said he left after waiting for 30 seconds because things were “quiet”.

He said he did not phone police immediately because he thought his stepdaughter’s message was a prank.

He claimed she had cut his calls and that is why the cellphone records showed that he had called her seven minutes and 30 seconds after he received her SMS.

Moosa, however, was not satisfied with his responses and maintained the vigorous cross examination by questioning him on the reasons for the 240 cellphone calls he allegedly made to Jobe just weeks before Naidoo was murdered, and the more than 20 calls he made to Jobe that day.

Maistry said: “I cannot remember how many calls I made last week, how do you expect me to remember how many calls I made last year? Nobody will be able to remember that.”

After Moosa questioned him further on the same issue he said: “Some calls were business related and others were social calls to say ‘hi’ “.

Replied Moosa: “Oh, they were chit-chat calls.”

Self confessed killer, Sifiso Joyisa, who got a 40-year sentence last year after he pleaded guilty in the Durban Magistrate’s Court, claimed that Maistry had orchestrated his wife’s murder.

Maistry is being represented by advocate Shane Matthews and attorney Shirren Subrathi.

His cross-examination before Acting Judge Burt Laing is expected to continue on Monday.

The three accused are being held at Westville Prison.