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Leila Samodien
THE “elusive” cling wrap allegedly used to suffocate Acting Judge Patrick Maqubela to death is at the centre of a delay in the murder trial.
Prosecutors have been trying to locate the key piece of evidence since last week.
It is believed to be at the police’s headquarters in Pretoria, but State advocate Bonnie Currie-Gamwo said on Monday this was “not a definite”.
The State was scheduled to call two witnesses yesterday, but Currie-Gamwo said they, too, were expected to testify on what she described as the “elusive cling wrap”.
It is the prosecution’s case that an 80cm-long, three-layered piece of Glad Wrap was used to suffocate the acting judge, then discarded in a wastepaper basket in the main bedroom of his Cape Town flat where his body was found.
The acting judge’s DNA was found on the plastic, as well as his wife Thandi’s thumbprint and palm print, which were on the edge.
Thandi Maqubela and her co-accused Vela Mabena stand accused of murdering Acting Judge Maqubela.
Maqubela’s defence counsel, Marius Broeksma, however, put in a request last week to see the actual cling wrap.
Currie-Gamwo asked the court to postpone the matter to Monday to allow for time for the police to locate the cling wrap.
Judge John Murphy granted the postponement.
Her husband was allegedly murdered on June 5, 2009, but Maqubela maintains that her husband died of natural causes.
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