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Johannesburg - The validity of the evidence led by the cellphone experts in the trial of Brett Kebble murder-accused Glenn Agliotti was questioned on Thursday by South Gauteng High Court Judge Frans Kgomo.
"The prima facie view that I hold at this time is that I thought there would be evidence led that would causally connect the accused with one or more of the transgressions in the indictment, but in hindsight it looks like the State placed booby traps along the way... like covering the roadway with rocks in the hopes that a certain vehicle would travel that way and may perchance... damage itself and... travel no further," he said.
Kgomo said the three cellphone experts called to the witness stand could not say who the phones were registered to, could not exclude the manipulation of cellphone records, and one of them had not received the Section 205 subpoena required to issue confidential records.
"There was an abuse of the system by police. My considered view is that if this state of affairs... is allowed... to persist, we should all be very afraid."
He was handing down his ruling on application by Agliotti's defence counsel, Advocate Laurance Hodes SC, for a discharge in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
'Mafia film'
Kgomo recalled the evidence by the State's witnesses, including that of self-confessed hitmen, boxer Mikey Schultz and bouncers Nigel McGurk and Faizel "Kappie" Smith, likening their tale to a "mafia film".
"Their rendition was like a scene from a mafia film," he said.
McGurk and Smith were self-confessed "button men", which in "mafiosa lingua franca" meant "the muscle".
Agliotti is facing four charges - two of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of attempted murder and another of murder.
The murder charge relates to the Kebble shooting in Melrose, north of Johannesburg.
One conspiracy charge relates to the plot to kill Allan Gray auditor Stephen Mildenhall, Jean Daniel Nortier, Dr Mark Bristow and Mark Wellesley Woods. The other is for planning to kill Kebble.
The attempted murder charge relates to the shooting of Mildenhall in Cape Town in August 2005.
"The prima facie view that I hold at this time is that I thought there would be evidence led that would causally connect the accused with one or more of the transgressions in the indictment, but in hindsight it looks like the State placed booby traps along the way... like covering the roadway with rocks in the hopes that a certain vehicle would travel that way and may perchance... damage itself and... travel no further," he said.
Kgomo said the three cellphone experts called to the witness stand could not say who the phones were registered to, could not exclude the manipulation of cellphone records, and one of them had not received the Section 205 subpoena required to issue confidential records.
"There was an abuse of the system by police. My considered view is that if this state of affairs... is allowed... to persist, we should all be very afraid."
He was handing down his ruling on application by Agliotti's defence counsel, Advocate Laurance Hodes SC, for a discharge in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
'Mafia film'
Kgomo recalled the evidence by the State's witnesses, including that of self-confessed hitmen, boxer Mikey Schultz and bouncers Nigel McGurk and Faizel "Kappie" Smith, likening their tale to a "mafia film".
"Their rendition was like a scene from a mafia film," he said.
McGurk and Smith were self-confessed "button men", which in "mafiosa lingua franca" meant "the muscle".
Agliotti is facing four charges - two of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of attempted murder and another of murder.
The murder charge relates to the Kebble shooting in Melrose, north of Johannesburg.
One conspiracy charge relates to the plot to kill Allan Gray auditor Stephen Mildenhall, Jean Daniel Nortier, Dr Mark Bristow and Mark Wellesley Woods. The other is for planning to kill Kebble.
The attempted murder charge relates to the shooting of Mildenhall in Cape Town in August 2005.
