Confidante to be key witness
Killer names husband as ‘boss’ of hit
THE female confidante of alleged wife killer Alvin “Indran” Maistry will play a vital role in the state’s case against him this week.
Maistry is accused of masterminding the murder of his second wife, Charmaine Naidoo.
Two other suspects, Bongani Manyathi and Mandlenkosi Jobe, are charged with murder and accessory to murder, respectively.
A fourth man, Sifiso Joyisa, was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment last month for his part in Naidoo’s murder.
During his court case, Joyisa named Maistry as the “boss” behind the hit.
Naidoo, a mother of one, was killed in February. Two armed men broke into her Merebank home, taking only a television set.
They forced Naidoo into her car and instructed her to drive off. Naidoo’s brother, who lived with her, volunteered to take her place, but the men allegedly insisted that she be the one to accompany them.
Naidoo’s body was found in the early hours of the following morning in a bushy area 200m from Isipingo police station.
She had been shot in the shoulder, strangled with a shoelace and repeatedly stabbed in the neck.
Maistry made a high court application on Tuesday, asking to secure a bail hearing before May 16 because he had been incarcerated since April 20.
In his application, Maistry denied that he was the “boss” Joyisa referred to.
At Maistry’s bail application on Friday, investigating officer Warrant-Officer Rajen Nagesar said the police task team had traced a female witness with whom Maistry had a long-standing connection.
Nagesar said Maistry had “confided in the witness over a long period of time”, telling her of the death of his first wife, Amanda, and problems he faced with his in-laws over his first wife’s inheritance and custody of his child.
The woman told the police that Maistry had told her he wanted someone to perform a hit and asked whether she knew of someone. She claimed she put him in touch with Jobe, who she knew had served time in prison for murder.
Nagesar said the woman knew Maistry by another name, but the police believed she would positively identify him. He said the task team was now looking into the death of Maistry’s first wife, who died in a car crash in 2007. A case of culpable homicide is being investigated against the truck driver who hit her vehicle.
Maistry’s advocate, Murray Pitman, said there was nothing to link him to the death of his first wife. He said Nagesar had a “preconceived” idea of Maistry’s guilt.
During the proceedings, Maistry repeatedly turned to face Naidoo’s family, while the investigating officer led evidence about him being the mastermind behind her death. The family members did not react.
Naidoo’s father, Rashid Narasiah, who attacked Maistry at his first appearance last month, said having to listen to what was done to his daughter and look at Maistry made his “stomach turn”.