Prime suspect freed after docket fiasco

DESCRIBED as a ‘house burglary kingpin’, a 43-year-old man was this week released from custody due to lack of sufficient evidence.

A case of house burglary against the man was meant to be enrolled at the Empangeni Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday but he was released after a local prosecutor dismissed the evidence provided in the docket.

Stills, obtained from video footage, of what is believed to be a man breaking into a home in Empangeni, formed part of the evidence against him, but owing to the poor quality of the images, the docket was thrown out by the prosecutor.

The man is believed to have also been linked to the crime via fingerprint evidence, which did not form part of the original docket submitted to court, but had later been confirmed after his release.

The apparent lack of communication between SAPS members and local prosecutors has been brought to the attention of the ZO on more than one occasion.

According to reports, some SAPS members feel hard done by as prosecutors let off criminals they had worked so hard to arrest. It is understood that in this specific case the investigating officer was not contacted by the prosecutor to get his docket in order – something that is common practice.

A local prosecutor who spoke to the ZO anonymously, said it seems as if both parties are to blame.

‘Normally prosecutors would look at dockets before enrolling a matter to court.

‘In this specific instance I am not sure what the problem was but surely if there was a lack of evidence and the man implicated in the docket was said to be a highly sought after criminal, there should have been some sort of communication between the prosecutor and the investigating officer.

‘SAPS need to also realise that prosecutors would not throw out a docket for no reason, if there is an outright lack of evidence and the prosecutor enrols the matter, the National Prosecuting Authority can be taken to task and even sued.’