Johannesburg - Samuel Dlomo created the scene for suspended crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli’s love rival to be killed.
And after Oupa Ramogibe was gunned down, Dlomo - who was Mdluli’s subordinate - created an opportunity for his two assailants to run away.
Dlomo then tried to cover his tracks by making several contradictory statements which didn’t give an exact explanation as to why he had taken Ramogibe to the crime scene in the first place.
These were the scathing assertions made by prosecutor Kholeka Gcaleka as she tore into Dlomo’s evidence about the day Ramogibe was murdered while in his custody in 1999.
Thursday was Dlomo’s second day under cross-examination at the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court in the inquest into Ramogibe’s murder. Gcaleka pointed to contradictions in Dlomo’s evidence.
Ramogibe was in a relationship with Mdluli’s former lover, and Mdluli had allegedly made threats on Ramogibe’s life.
On February 17, 1999, Dlomo had taken Ramogibe to a pointing-out in Vosloorus. Ramogibe had opened a case of attempted murder after he was shot while driving on December 24 the previous year (1998).
On Wednesday, Dlomo testified that he had decided to re-investigate the case despite its having been two months old, marked as undetected and closed by Mdluli himself. At that time, Mdluli was a superintendent at the Vosloorus police station and Dlomo’s superior.
“At the time you took the deceased to the scene, did you know he was no longer interested in the case?” Gcaleka asked.
“No,” Dlomo answered. “So he was co-operative?” Gcaleka pressed. “Yes,” he responded. “He was, because we were on speaking terms.”
However, Gcaleka read out an undated statement by Dlomo which stated that Ramogibe had been unco-operative and had not wanted to bring his witness to testify. Furthermore, Ramogibe’s family had also testified that Dlomo was no longer interested in the case.
Dlomo conceded that he had written the statement but maintained he hadn’t known that Ramogibe was no longer interested in pursuing the case. “How were you and the deceased contacting each other [to arrange pointing out?]” asked Gcaleka.
“By cellphone,” he answered.
“Interesting. You called him on his cellphone when evidence from his family is that he didn't have a cellphone,” Gcaleka said.
Dlomo had testified on Wednesday that he had wanted to go back to the scene with Ramogibe to speak to neighbours and possibly find cartridges from the shooting.
Dlomo said there were no cartridges mentioned in the docket, which had already been opened.
But it emerged on Thursday that Dlomo had been in the possession of a statement he had taken from Colonel Sebastian Ximba (also a former co-accused) on January 7, 1999 detailing that Ximba had found two cartridges on the scene.
“Earlier you said you had no knowledge of the cartridges, but here’s a statement you took a month before the pointing out from Ximba which states they found two cartridges,” Gcaleka stated.
“Yes, I did get the statement, but he didn’t explain if he had registered them in the SAP13,” he answered.
“Isn’t your duty to investigate that?” She continued, “It was my duty,” he answered. “And you failed to do it.”
Magistrate Jurg Viviers then asked why Dlomo had taken Ramogibe to the scene when he knew there would not be any cartridges.
Dlomo reiterated that he did not know there’d be no cartridges.
Gcaleka said: “I put it to you that you aren’t telling the truth. You took Oupa to the scene knowing there were no cartridges.”
Gcaleka charged that the suspects had been “well directed to kill Oupa”, and the reason why Dlomo’s evidence wasn’t correlating with his statements was because he was being untruthful with the court.
“After Oupa had been shot, you created an opportunity for his assailants to run away and you tried to cover it up by making several statements,” she said, to which Dlomo said he’d been left very traumatised by the incident.
Criminal charges for intimidation, kidnapping, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder - against Mdluli and his alleged accomplices Dlomo, Ximba and Mtunzi-Omhle Mtunzi - were provisionally withdrawn in February, pending the outcome of the inquest. The inquest continues.
The Star