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Cape Town - The State's evidence against two cousins accused of the rape and murder of Khayelitsha teen Sinoxolo Mafevuka is of such poor quality that no court of law could accept it, the defence argued in the local magistrate's court on Monday.
Lawyer Thabo Nogemane said during closing arguments in the duo's bail application that "red lights were flashing" because the State's case "lacks coherence, corroboration and common sense".
Nogemane was referring particularly to the State's version of what happened on the night of March 2 when the 19-year-old was strangled and dumped in a communal toilet in Town Two.
Her body was found slumped naked over a toilet. Her clothes had been stuffed into the cistern. Water from the leaking toilet is believed to have washed DNA evidence away.
According to police investigations and witness testimony, the two accused, aged 22 and 26, were seen dragging the young woman toward the ablution facilities in the early hours of that morning.
An eyewitness, who approached police while bail proceedings were under way, told police he knew both men – cousins of Mafevuka's boyfriend – from the area.
Witness 'feared for safety'
He claimed he had been returning from a local tavern when he heard a woman scream and saw the two dragging a person.
He hid himself behind shacks, but said he had a clear view of what was happening because there was a light close by.
Nogemane dismissed the witness' version of events. The witness claimed to have come forward late into the investigation after being convinced by a police informant to share the information with the authorities.
The witness said he had feared for his safety.
"The police must have paid the informant to come with a witness at the eleventh hour," Nogemane argued.
'Real killers at large'
He also pointed out that the State had no DNA evidence linking his clients to the case.
A resident who claimed to have heard the cousins outside his shack the night of her killing has also been questioned by Nogemane, who referenced case law which refers to voice recognition as contentious and less reliable than seen evidence.
Nogemane said his clients had "already been in custody for too long".
"The right approach would be to [release my clients and] start looking for the real perpetrators who are still at large," he told magistrate Xolani Menyiwe.
Arguments in the case continue.
