The State has challenged the testimonies of four cops implicated in a R20 million heist.
Officers Jacobus Adriaan Groenewald, Bradley Dimitri Minnaar, Mthuthuzeli Mafanya and Bathandwa Soldati appeared in Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for the continuation of their bail application.
They were busted after the September 14 raid in Llandudno.
State prosecutor Lukhanyo Langeni cross examined Mafanya who has been in the force for 10 years.
Langeni asked:“Were you aware of anything being taken out of the house on the day of the raid?”
Mafanya replied no, and Langeni reminded the officer that his co-accused Groenewald had admitted to taking an identity card and holder from the house.
Langeni also said the four officers were captured on CCTV driving from Wynberg, and that a white Hyundai was following them until they stopped at McDonald’s in Green Point, where the two occupants from the Hyundai got into the police vans, which proceeded to the Llandudno house.
He said the investigating officer has since found the Hyundai, and jewellery of the complainant was found in it.
The suspects initially told the court that they raided the house after receiving information from two informants about the possibility of a drug and abalone syndicate bust.
The prosecutor said according to the complainant, two armed black men first ran into the house.
“After going into the premises they were followed by officers, he was tied up and the officers went upstairs. Officers came down with duffel bags. Witnesses saw officers take items and put them in bags. They took pictures and videos of the vans.”
Mafanya previously testified that when they arrived at the house, a group of people scattered and they later learned that the two suspects they were looking for had fled.
Langeni said the investigating officer will testify that an empty jewellery box was found in Groenewald’s car, and a jamming device was found in Minnaar’s vehicle.
The court also heard that a private security vehicle stopped outside the house and Groenewald went to talk to the officers.