Johannesburg - A Sandton police crime-scene expert, who worked on cases linked to Radovan Krejcir, Paul O’Sullivan and murdered Rwandan Colonel Patrick Karegeya, has been charged with defeating the ends of justice after investigations revealed he had allegedly been doing deals to make evidence, including fingerprints, disappear.
The trial of Constable Thabiso Kubyane, based at the Local Criminal Records Centre in Sandton, starts at the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court next month. He also faces charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
In January last year, two men and a woman are believed to have planned a hit on senior police official Nkosana “Killer” Ximba and forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan. The trio are believed to have been hired by Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir.
Kubyane was instructed to process the evidence at one of the scenes. National police spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said the investigating team waited for a long time for his report. But then he became a person of interest as officials discovered he may have been calling family members of suspects, offering to assist them to make the case go away.
He is believed to have identified himself as a Colonel Mabuti from Sandton Police. Money was to be paid via Shoprite or Spar. The investigating team went to his office and searched it. They found two reports, in relation to the Krejcir case, one which shows there were no fingerprints and another which showed there were prints. It is believed he was in discussion with the suspects about paying him to make the case go away.
Makgale said further investigations revealed he had exhibits from more than 30 cases including Sandton, Alexandra and Randburg.
He is also believed to have withheld evidence from the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton relating to the murder of Karegeya. “The exhibits will soon be handed over to the investigators of that case. So far, the National Prosecuting Authority has decided to charge him with only one case – the Krejcir investigation.”
The firearms and ammunition charge against the 32-year-old constable, who had been working as a crime-scene expert in the Joburg area, relates to items he allegedly stole from the SAP 13 store at the Linden police station.
Kubyane is accused of attending crime scenes and failing to register evidence collected or complete written reports.
“When it was time for those exhibits to be used as evidence in court, he was unable to (deliver). This led a team of investigators from the National Investigation Unit to the constable’s room at the police barracks.
“Exhibits and crime scene reports, which were not processed, and never entered into any of the relevant registers, were found there.”
Makgale said the team also found two firearms in the constable’s room which they later found were supposed to have been stored as exhibits at the Linden SAPS store.
“There were no entries made in official registers … as to how the pistol and the revolver left his storage. Also, Kubyane could not give a proper explanation as to why he was in possession of the firearms. The investigating team also found several R1, R5 and 9mm calibre bullets in Kubyane’s safe,” he said.
Kubyane is out on R10 000 bail and his alleged accomplice Petrus Danyscam, 33, is out on a warning. Internal disciplinary cases are also being conducted.
Saturday Star