Johannesburg - No gun was found at the scene of the fatal car crash involving Generations: The Legacy actor Rapulana Seiphemo.
The Pretoria Magistrate's Court heard on Tuesday that neither were blood tests done on Seiphemo to determine his blood alcohol level at the time of the Valentine's Day crash on the N14.
Read: Court told of Generations star’s hijacking, crash
Also read: Shock twist in soap star's crash probe
This emerged during the second day of the bail application of Nathi Msiza, the Mamelodi man implicated in the alleged hijacking of the actor, which led to the accident. Judgment on bail will be delivered on Thursday.
The absence of the weapon contradicted the version in Seiphemo’s statement read to the court on Monday.
Msiza, 26, and Tebogo Makunyane, 34, are accused of attempting to hijack Seiphemo on Valentine’s Day.
Msiza also stand accused of defeating the ends of justice by lying to police when interviewed about his whereabouts on the day of the incident.
Mzisa jumped out of the car and sustained serious injuries. Makunyane died in the crash. Seiphemo, who was behind the wheel of his Audi A4 when it collided with another vehicle on the N14 near Olievenhoutbosch, spent days in hospital. Two occupants of the other car also died.
Read: Seiphemo passenger ‘arrested for hijacking’
Investigating officer Constable Piet Shabalala earlier told the court that while interviewing Msiza at Kalafong Hospital, the accused said he suffered his injuries after being run over by a vehicle in Laudium.
But the policeman testified that Msiza was found on an island near the crash site.
Msiza, in his affidavit read by his defence attorney Lesole Mokgatle, claimed to have been given a lift by the actor moments before the fatal crash.
“We asked for a lift. The complainant then thought we were hijacking him.
“He said we would rather die together than allow us to hijack him, and that’s when I jumped out of the car,” said Msiza.
The lawyer questioned Shabalala about the firearm used during the alleged hijacking, as well as the state of mind of his client when interviewed in hospital.
He said: “In the complainant’s statement, he said a window of his vehicle was smashed and a gun pointed at him during the incident. Have you found the firearm allegedly used in the hijacking?” Shabalala replied: “No.”
Then Mokgatle asked whether a blood test was conducted on Seiphemo to determine if he was under the influence at the time of the fatal crash, to which Shabalala again said no.
“I put it to you that the victim was intoxicated. Was he able to recollect the sequence of events after he woke from his coma, and did he say who pointed the firearm at him?” asked Mokgatle.
Shabalala said Seiphemo was able to recollect the sequence of events and remember who pointed the firearm at him.
“But you could not find the firearm at the scene of the crash?” asked Mokgatle to which Shabalala responded “yes”.
Mokgatle also claimed that Msiza was sedated when he was interviewed and arrested by Shabalala and could not have been in a good frame of mind.
Seiphemo could also not have been in the right frame of mind when he made his statement, as he just awoken from a coma, he said. The State’s case was weak, he added, as it failed to provide the firearm used in the attempted hijacking. Both Seiphemo and Msiza were sedated when questioned which led to discrepancies in the State’s evidence.
However, State prosecutor Georgina Riley argued that Msiza was a flight risk due to his lack of permanent employment and fixed assets. “In his affidavit, the accused also places himself in the vehicle at the time of the offence and should therefore not be granted bail,” said Riley.
The Star