By Jade Witten
Siphiwo Hewana, a former Goodwood police station commander, was found guilty on Monday of attempting to defeat the ends of justice after he ordered police officers to tamper with evidence relating to a drink-driving charge against ANC stalwart Tony Yengeni.
The evidence of nine State witnesses "fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle", magistrate Elsa van Zyl told the Parow Regional Court.
Hewana had pleaded not guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice, incitement to commit perjury, and infractions of the Police Act.
Van Zyl said she fully agreed with prosecutor Barry van den Berg that the testimony of the witnesses, including constables Charles Japhta and Jeremy Voskuil, who arrested Yengeni on November 26, 2007, were not contradictory.
"I agree with the prosecutor that all the probabilities favour the State's version," she said.
Van Zyl said all State witnesses had testified that Yengeni had been arrested at 12.30am on November 26, 2007, and not at 9pm the night before, the time Hewana had instructed them to enter into their statements.
Japhta and Voskuil testified that they had been called into Hewana's office on the night of Monday, November 26, 2007, to alter their statements.
The two had re-written their statements and changed aspects - including the time of arrest and why it had taken four hours to draw Yengeni's blood - as dictated by Hewana.
The officers testified that Hewana had threatened them. They also testifed that they had driven around with Yengeni to a number of police stations to get a blood alcohol test before a test was eventually done at Karl Bremmer Hospital at about 1am.
Van Zyl said the officers had known it was wrong to lie and change their statements, but the court took into account their claims that their jobs, livelihoods and families had been threatened.
"They were just constables, the lowest rank in the SAPS. They testified that they felt intimidated," said Van Zyl.
An altered case docket was created and the original was stored at Japhta's house in Kraaifontein.
The original docket surfaced only after high-ranking police officers questioned Japhta about it. He later spilled the beans.
"The fact that Japhta kept the docket at home, doesn't mean he lied about the incident," said Van Zyl.
She said that Hewana's denial that he had sent an e-mail to the provincial police about a "mistake" he had made in the media about Yengeni's time of arrest was "absurd".
In the disputed e-mail, Hewana said he had mistakenly told the media that the time of arrest was 9pm and had asked the arresting officers to alter their statements to protect the image of the station.
"We agreed to change the times. There was no intention of defeating or protecting anyone in this case," Hewana said in the e-mail in December 2007.
But Nadima Oodendal, a clerk at Goodwood police station at the time, testified that she had been ordered by Hewana to send the e-mail to the department of the provincial police commissioner.
"The e-mail is a curious piece of the puzzle. Why she would lie about it is mind-boggling," said Van Zyl.
During the trial, the Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Policing, Thulani Ntobela, testified that Yengeni's blood alcohol sample had been diluted because the container that the blood was stored in appeared to have been tampered with.
Van Zyl said Ntobula's evidence was hearsay and declared it inadmissible.
It was also the State's case that Hewana had allowed Yengeni's blood alcohol sample to be kept in an unlocked drawer.
Van Zyl said Hewana's testimony that State witnesses had lied and were part of a conspiracy against him was "improbable and can hardly be the truth".
Hewana was acquitted on two counts of incitement to commit perjury and infractions of the Police Act. Sentencing proceedings are scheduled to begin on February 8.
At the time of his arrest, Yengeni was under correctional supervision with strict conditions, including curfew of 10pm and a drinking ban.
Yengeni was acquitted of drink driving last December.