Johannesburg - Serious allegations of interference in a case have been levelled against a senior public prosecutor in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.
Prosecutor Marian van der Merwe was assigned to work on an attempted murder and malicious damage to property case after a shooting in Laudium in April.
The incident was captured on CCTV footage outside Kismet Supermarket.
A group of men allegedly smashed up a BMW X3 belonging to Akoob Akoob.
Akoob came out of the supermarket, was immediately surrounded by the group of men, one of whom was Shaheer Noor Mohamed, and an argument broke out.
Akoob shot at the men and three were injured.
Mohamed was shot in the leg, a second man was shot in the abdomen and a bystander was shot in the thigh.
Akoob was charged with attempted murder and Mohamed with malicious damage to property.
The case was investigated and brought to court. According to Akoob’s attorney, Saleem Ebrahim, they were prepared to go to trial on both cases when they were called to speak to Van der Merwe.
She allegedly told him that she knew Mohamed personally and wanted them to plead guilty for assault with attempt to do grievous bodily harm and to withdraw the malicious damage to property charges.
Ebrahim then wrote two letters to Van der Merwe detailing concerns about the way the case was being handled.
He said the case appeared to be going further because “of influence exerted by the suspect, Shaheer Noor Mohamed”.
“We are further reliably informed that he is in contact with yourself in regard to this case.
“We have also been informed that you have issued instructions in the above matter, despite the fact that you are acquainted with the suspects on a personal level.”
Ebrahim said they would report the matter to the relevant authorities.
“We are further requesting you to place on record the reason why you have discussed the matter with the suspects,” the letter stated.
After a teleconference with Van der Merwe, Ebrahim wrote a second letter where he said the investigating officer had told them that after requesting warning statements from both sides, Van der Merwe called him and asked why he required the statements.
“When I telephonically consulted with yourself, you confirmed that you received a call from Mr Noor Mohamed informing you that the investigating officer requested a warning statement from him.
“I have great difficulty with the aforementioned sequence of events as it appears that Mr Noor Mohamed is influencing the outcome of this matter.”
Ebrahim said it was clear that Van der Merwe’s office was entrenched in the investigation and that as far as the charges against his client were concerned, they were preparing for trial and that all conversations were now on the record as they had no wish to deal with this matter “in the clandestine manner it has been dealt with”.
Van der Merwe responded to the letters saying that she consulted chief prosecutor advocate Luphondo, and because Ebrahim was not happy with her involvement, they decided to reassign the case to another prosecutor not attached to their office.
“This must not be construed as an acknowledgement of any wrongdoing on my part,” she said.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel has now taken over the case.
When contacted by The Star, Van der Merwe denied all the allegations and she stepped away from the cases to make everyone comfortable.
When asked if she knew Mohamed, she said The Star was putting her in a difficult position and that she had just had surgery and was not in a position to talk.
Kineil Muthray, the attorney for Mohamed, said the matter was currently on the court roll and his client had been advised not to answer any questions with regard to them.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Luvuyo-Mfaku said the office of the chief prosecutor in Pretoria had not received a complaint and one of the cases had been set for trial, while the other was still under investigation.
The Star
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