The prosecutor who was arrested and charged in connection with the murder of his employee has claimed that the police assaulted and suffocated him.
He made this claim before Principal Magistrate David Khumalo at the Manzini Magistrate’s Court, where he appeared for his remand hearing yesterday. Bongani Cedric Ngwenya, aged 55, was represented by attorney Derrick Jele of Robinson Bertram Attorneys.
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The prosecutor faces a murder charge after he allegedly killed his employee Anthony Maluleka (47) by hacking him with a pickaxe in the head.
His body was stuffed under a bed in a caravan he used at Ngwenya’s property at Moneni. Maluleka’s body was discovered on Saturday morning, and Ngwenya is said to have been the one who reported the discovery to the police.
Senior Crown Counsel Macebo Nxumalo applied for Ngwenya’s remand into custody pending his committal to the High Court. Ngwenya’s defence counsel Jele did not oppose the remand application.
However, he said instructions from his client were that he needed to see a medical practitioner because the police had allegedly assaulted and suffocated him during interrogation. Jele added that he had also observed that his client was struggling to breathe.
“We therefore request, Your Worship, that while he is in custody, he be taken to see a medical practitioner. I was instructed that the police had refused to take him to hospital,” submitted Jele.
In response, the prosecutor denied the allegation that Ngwenya had been assaulted and that the police refused to take him to hospital.
“It is not true that the police refused to take the accused to the hospital. He never requested to be taken to hospital, otherwise he would have been taken there,” said Nxumalo.
Responding to this, the defence counsel said,
“It is okay to deny the allegations. Licala ngumphikwa, but the doctor will determine if my client indeed needed medical attention.”
Magistrate Khumalo then ordered that Ngwenya be taken to see a medical practitioner before being taken to Zakhele Remand Centre. He said in the event that the practitioner deemed that Ngwenya needed medical treatment, same should be afforded to him.
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On another note, the Crown applied for the detention of some exhibits which had been allegedly used in the commission of the offence. The 10 exhibits, which were seized by the police, included a pickaxe head, a hammer, a pair of brown shoes, an army green pair of trousers, a navy blue and an orange T-shirt, a handleless garden fork, a pair of jeans, a jacket, boots and a pink bucket.
Further, the Crown applied to have Ngwenya’s blood specimen and nail clippings tested.
To this, the defence counsel said the police were supposed to conduct the blood tests before his client was arrested.
“My instructions are that this ought to have been done by the police before the court appearance. This shows that the police did not do a thorough investigation and now they are asking the court to assist them,” submitted Jele.
He added that although he did not oppose the latter’s application, he was still not happy about it, especially because it was made after his client had been allegedly assaulted by the police.
Before the court granted the Crown’s application, Magistrate Khumalo shared the defence counsel’s sentiments and said the police should have conducted their investigations before charging the accused.
Still, the Crown maintained that an investigation was not a once-off undertaking — like Rome, which was not built in one day.
Ngwenya was remanded into custody until November 19, pending his committal to the High Court.
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