Cop confirms Yengeni evidence

Officer says pocketbook describing arrest for drunken driving is unaltered

A SENIOR policeman testified yesterday that the officer who arrested Tony Yengeni in 2013 on a drunk driving charge had not altered the information in his pocket book, used by police officers to record incidents.

Yengeni is accused of driving under the influence of alcohol, after he was pulled over in his Maserati in Green Point in August 2013.

At the time of his arrest, it was reported he was three times over the legal limit.

In the Cape Town Community Court yesterday, Warrant Officer Melvin Loggenstein said he had signed off the pocketbook in which arresting officer Sergeant Jonas Gomba had noted Yengeni’s arrest.

Loggenstein said he had signed the book at the beginning and at the end, according to procedure.

The defence had questioned the authenticity of the notes.

Before Loggenstein testified, Yengeni’s defence lawyer Dirk Uys and State prosecutor Leon Snyman spent a long time arguing over the technicalities of a document that records Yengeni’s blood alcohol level at the time.

This came after Snyman asked to have an additional document, which said the testing device that measured Yengeni’s blood alcohol level was correctly calibrated, submitted as admissible evidence in addition to the results of the test.

Uys told the court that while he did not object to having the documents admitted, it was too early for the magistrate to rule on whether the additional documents were in fact admissible as evidence.

Snyman countered that, since much of the State’s case against Yengeni would rest on whether the document stating that the calibration of the device was correct was accepted as admissible evidence, magistrate Grant Engel should make a ruling on the matter. Uys, however, disagreed. “It is certainly admissible as evidence, but not as conclusive evidence,” he argued.

“What we will argue is what weight should be given to it,” he added.

A document proving the test was correctly calibrated is considered important as it would boost the State’s case that the ANC veteran’s blood alcohol level was measured correctly.

After two hours of argument, Engel said he would make “no ruling” whether the additional documents were inadmissible or admissible.

He said it was not for the magistrate’s court to make decisions which could turn out to be precedent setting.

The trial continues on April 4, and Yengeni remains out on bail.

The State has indicated it will call an expert on blood alcohol testing, along with the investigating officer, to testify when the case resumed.

jan.cronje@inl.co.za

PICTURE: LEON LESTRADE CONFIDENT: ANC member Tony Yengeni outside the Cape Town Community Court yesterday, where his trial for drunk driving is taking place.