A forensic analyst may be called to testify at the Western Cape High Court to shed light on whether or not the cellphones of Amaal Jantjies were tampered with following her arrest.
This comes as legal teams have started to question the evidence presented by the Hawks against Jantjies and her former berk, Janick Adonis, in the mammoth underworld trial centred on the murder of slain Anti-Gang Unit detective Charl Kinnear.
This week, the duo who are on trial alongside alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack, made shocking admissions regarding the cellphone evidence downloaded from two devices confiscated from Jantjies during her arrest.
The Cape Flats duo are accused of orchestrating various attacks on Kinnear’s Bishop Lavis home in November 2019 which included the grenade incident.
They face several counts of conspiracy to commit murder after explosive texts, calls and voice notes found on Jantjies’ phones revealed she plotted with at least five co-conspirators to attack the Kinnear family home.
In yesterday’s cross examination of Captain Trevor Shaw of the National Task Team, Jantjies’ legal representative Pauline Andrews highlighted the report submitted by Forensic Analyst Francois Moller.
Shaw explained that Moller was appointed to analyse whether the phones were tampered with and confirmed that when the phones were downloaded, they found there were deleted messages which could not be retrieved.
Andrews questioned whether cops had any way of knowing if the files were deleted before or after Jantjies was arrested, and Shaw explained that there would be a footprint.
Judge Robert Henney questioned whether Moller was ever instructed to retrieve the deleted files during the investigation and when Shaw confirmed that no such instruction was given, the judge stated that Moller should be made to retrieve the files before he comes to testify.
Henney asked: “If a message was deleted after the police confiscated that phone will you be able to show it? Let’s say it was there on the 23 November [the day Jantjies was arrested] will it show? Could someone pick it up?"
The judge explained that the chain of custody was essential to ensure that evidence in a criminal trial was not embellished or excluded.
The judge further explained that these deleted files should have been asked for, to establish if any information was intentionally removed.
In earlier claims, Jantjies insinuated that Lincoln was aware of the attacks on Kinnear’s home and insisted that she did so at the top cop’s instructions.
The trial continues.
monique.duval@inl.co.za