Durban - A Durban High Court judge criticised the work of an investigating officer in the rape and murder trial she is presiding over on Tuesday. She said the officer had “left so many strings untied” and avenues were “just not followed”.
Judge Charmaine Balton made these comments during an application by rape and murder accused Navandhran Naicker’s legal counsel to have the charges against him dismissed due to lack of evidence.
“There are so many cases like these, poorly investigated, where the accused are acquitted,” she said.
Sixteen-year-old Tenique Stevens’s partly-naked body was found covered with black plastic at Cuttings Beach in Merebank by fishermen on June 5, 2012, with a rope around her neck and her mouth stuffed with a cloth.
Naicker, 39, has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, murder and theft of Tenique’s cellphone.
Yesterday, the State closed its case, which led to Naicker’s counsel, advocate Pregasen Marimuthu, instructed by Legal Aid SA, to make the application for discharge.
Marimuthu said there was no forensic evidence presented by the State on the rape charge.
Referring to the murder charge, he said there were certain concerns about where the body was found. He said there were condom wrappers, used condoms, a shoe with socks and a bottle found at the crime scene, but none came back with a DNA match.
“No testing was done at the scene,” said Judge Balton.
Marimuthu also said they did not know if the crime scene had been secured, and said they were dealing with a contaminated crime scene.
The first police officer on the scene, Constable Nokukhanya Shezi, testified that she could not remember using the bins at the beach to cordon off the crime scene when she was shown photos of the area.
He referred to State witness Keshweran Moodley’s evidence as vague. Moodley was Naicker’s employer.
Naicker alleged Tenique flagged his van down that night as she had been locked out of her house and asked for a lift.
He was driving a van that belonged to Moodley. The State has alleged that the rope found around Tenique’s neck was the same rope as that used on the van’s tarp.
Moodley had testified to not being able to tell if the rope had been changed following Tenique’s death. Marimuthu said his evidence was vague about the colour of the rope, giving the court three different colours during his testimony.
“Moodley was such an unconvincing witness. The rope was sent for analysis, but never followed up on. This smacks of a shoddy investigation,” said Judge Balton.
Marimuthu said the State’s evidence was circumstantial except for the cellphone evidence, which showed Tenique’s cellphone was still being used after her death.
The judge said State advocate Happy Mazibuko had done the best she could with what she had, and again chastised the police officer.
She is to give her ruling on Naicker’s application later this week.
Daily News