The Pinetown Regional Court has acquitted five men of all charges relating to 24 tons of stolen copper cable belonging to eThekwini Municipality and Telkom, estimated at R5 million, due to the unacceptable conduct of the police in the case.

On Tuesday afternoon, Magistrate Muntukayise Khumalo told Sudashon Chetty, Simosakhe Chiliza, Richard Mnguni, Thulasizwe Ngcobo, and Mthokozisi Mchunu that they were free to go.

The accused faced charges of possessing suspected stolen property (ferrous or non-ferrous metal) in that on February 2, 2023, in Pinetown, the accused were found in the unlawful possession of copper cables valued at R5m.

After the State closed its case, the defence counsel for the accused, advocate Bonga Zulu, applied for the discharge of his clients in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act. Zulu argued that there was no evidence upon which a reasonable court acting carefully might convict on the evidence placed before the Regional Court.  

Handing down his ruling, Magistrate Khumalo said the evidence of the State was so bad that no reasonable court acting carefully could convict it.

He criticised the conduct of Warrant Officer Pillay (first name not known). He said the police received an anonymous tip-off about the loading of copper at a crime scene. 

He said instead of the police using that information to build up a strong case, they decided to break into the premises without any reasonable grounds for believing that a crime was being committed.

Magistrate Khumalo said when WO Pillay arrived at the crime scene premises, he pressed an intercom and when there was no response, he jumped over the gate without any warrant authorising him to do so. 

“This conduct from a senior police officer with years of experience is disappointing,” he said. 

Additionally, he said the case was bungled by Pillay, either intentionally in order to assist the first accused, Chetty, who is his cousin, or through incompetence on his part.

He said the other unfortunate part of the evidence in this case is that it seems the search and seizure was influenced by the private companies involved as would appear from Constable Clothier’s evidence that upon arrival of Barbara Cloete, she told Chetty that she had always wanted him for a long time, and that at last she had got him. Cloete works for eThekwini’s electricity department.

Constable Clothier further stated that before Cloete could look at anything, she said: “Something is definitely mine here.” 

“These utterances are unfortunate and suggest that Chetty had been under surveillance for a long time, and that is why the police were reckless in their investigation after receiving information,” Magistrate Khumalo added.

Moreover, the magistrate said it was also surprising that one of the trucks had a lock at the back, and the police cut the lock to access the back of the truck without the owner’s consent or a warrant, violating the law. 

He said Cloete also conceded that the reason for her to identify that copper as belonging to the municipality was because it was in huge quantities.

However, Cloete told the court that the same copper was available for purchase from retailers, but not in that quantity. 

“She further told the court that even when purchased from retailers, no authorisation was required for one to possess such copper. This would suggest that no proper identification was made of that copper as belonging to the eThekwini Municipality,” Magistrate Khumalo added. 

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za

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