Record trialist walks free

No trial for suspect following years in asylum

HE SPENT 11 years in detention, waiting for a trial that never came. Today Ishmael Mashigo is a free man.

Mashigo, 37, now holds the South African record for the longest time as an awaiting trial prisoner. He was full of joy yesterday after Germiston Magistrate Karin Pillay gave him his freedom.

On June 9, Sowetan reported on Mashigo ’ s long wait for justice.

“I am really blessed. When I woke up today, fellow prisoners and warders told me that I would go home. But when I walked to the dock, I had little hope.”

Mashigo said after the story was published, a psychologist was arranged to come and visit him at the Boksburg Prison. Yesterday, charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances brought against him following his arrest in 2004 were withdrawn.

Mashigo of Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, was arrested following an armed robbery at his workplace in Germiston on the East Rand where three of his managers were killed. An undisclosed amount of money was stolen.

The court had deemed him unfit to stand trail and was admitted to Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital on the West Rand for nine years. Mashigo said he was brutally assaulted by police during his arrest and as a result, he has a blood clot in the head which led to his mental illness.

Pillay told Mashigo that the director of public prosecution ’ s (DPP) decision not to prosecute him did not mean that he was found not guilty. She said the DPP has instructed that an inquest into the deaths of three of Mashigo ’ s managers be held. The state prosecutor has to submit all statements, documents and other information to Pillay to enable her to hold the inquest.

But Mashigo who insists he is innocent does not think he will ever go back to court again. “I am happy, but equally sad.

“My life was derailed. I want to see my daughter, have a proper meal and sleep. I also want to go to church.” He is now seeking further legal advice. “I lost everything during the arrest. My family gave up on me. I lost my job,” Mashigo said.