Judge’s phone contacted after his death

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BACK IN COURT: Thandi Maqubela, accused of murdering her husband, Acting Judge Patrick Maqubela, arrives at the Labour Court yesterday to resume her trial. Photo: Brenton Geach

Leila Samodien

Justice Writer

THERE was contact between Thandi Maqubela’s cellphone and that of her husband’s in the days following his alleged murder.

This was heard in the Cape Town Labour Court yesterday as the murder trial resumed after an eight-month hiatus.

Maqubela is being tried alongside her co-accused Vela Mabena, a health products salesman.

The pair are accused of slaying Acting Judge Patrick Maqubela, who was acting on the Western Cape High Court Bench at the time.

UNDER WRAPS: Hiding his face from photographers, Thandi Maqubelas co-accused, Vela Mabena, arrives at court yesterday. Photo: Brenton Geach

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However, Maqubela’s defence disputes whether he was murdered, maintaining that he died of natural causes.

State advocates Pedro van Wyk and Bonnie Currie-Gamwo picked up where they left off in December by leading cellphone evidence in an attempt to demonstrate Thandi Maqubela’s coming and goings – as well as who she had contact with – in the days leading up to and following her husband’s death.

Vodacom forensic liaison manager Petro Heyneke testified there had been several calls and SMSes between Patrick and Thandi Maqubela’s phones in the days before his death.

There had also been communication between the cellphones of Thandi Maqubela and Mabena.

At one point, Maqubela’s defence counsel, Marius Broeksma, questioned how the testimony was relevant, saying it was common cause that the couple were married and that Thandi Maqubela had contact with Mabena because they worked for the same company, Forever Living health products.

However, Van Wyk said they were seeking to establish the extent of the contact between her cellphone and that of her husband’s, as well as the cellphone contact between the two accused.

National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesman Eric Ntabazalila later told the media that it was the State’s case that Thandi Maqubela had been using her husband’s phone after his alleged murder.

The State alleges that Maqubela was killed on June 5, 2009. His body was discovered in his flat two days later on June 7, 2009.

According to Heyneke, Thandi Maqubela had called her husband’s number several times on and following June 5, 2009.

Her cellphone had been transmitting from various vicinities in the Eastern Cape on June 7 and June 8, both days on which she had made calls to her husband’s number, even after having been informed of his death.

She had arrived in Cape Town about 1pm on June 8.

Her cellphone records showed that she had received a call from Mabena’s number at 4.20pm that day. Later that day, she received another call from his number – one at 5.43pm, which lasted just over a minute, and another at 6.17pm that lasted almost two minutes.

At 8.01pm that night, she made a call to her husband’s number. These calls had triggered Vodacom’s base station at President Apartments in Bantry Bay – the acting judge’s flat – indicating that she was in or near the complex during the calls.

Heyneke said Thandi Maqubela had had a second cellphone, the signals for which correlated with that of the areas the first phone had been in.

The court has previously also heard testimony that the acting judge’s phone was active all weekend following his alleged murder up until June 8 when it was switched off completely just after 8pm.

The trial continues today.

l While the trial is a Western Cape High Court matter, it is being held at the labour court because several of Maqubela’s colleagues on the Bench are testifying in the case. It is also being heard by North Gauteng High Court Judge John Murphy.

leila.samodien@inl.co.za