Cellphone records obtained by the State appear to show that Inderesan “Alvin” Maistry phoned one of his two co-accused more than 20 times before and after his wife was kidnapped and murdered in February last year.
The records are from three cellphones which Maistry, 45, the alleged mastermind of the crime, had in his possession before and after his wife, Soraya “Charmaine” Naidoo, 32, was killed, the State claims.
Naidoo, who owned a general dealer shop in Merebank, Durban, was kidnapped from her home in the same suburb on February 18 and forced into her own car. She was taken to an isolated area in Umbumbulu on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast and stabbed multiple times in the neck. Her body was found the next day.
Regarding the cellphone records, which are before Acting Judge Burt Laing in the Durban High Court, the State claimed this week that Maistry had phoned his co-accused, Madelenkosi Zamokhawakeh Jobe, 41, of Durban, no fewer than 23 times on the day his wife was kidnapped and murdered.
Some of the calls between Maistry and Jobe, who the State alleges roped in the third accused, Bongani Lucky John Manyathi, 28, of Inanda, to the conspiracy to end Naidoo’s life, were apparently made in the late hours of February 18.
This was allegedly followed by several calls a day later.
The alleged cellphone calls between the two accused, the State claimed, stretch to 2013.
Maistry’s defence counsel, however, claimed that he and Jobe had first communicated by cellphone in 2011.
He is being represented by advocate Shane Matthews and attorney Shireen Subrathi.
The State, represented by advocate Nadira Moosa, is waiting for Maistry to explain why he and Jobe apparently communicated so frequently in the two crucial days of this case – February 18 and 19 last year.
Maistry, an inspector in the Department of Labour, has not offered any explanation of the alleged cellphone calls as yet.
It also emerged that Maistry had made several calls to police stations and police officers on February 19 – after his wife was reported as being missing the previous evening.
He did not offer an explanation for some of the cellphone calls which the investigating officer, Warrant Officer Budgie Nagesur (of the Provincial Task Team), testified about concerning him and Jobe at his unsuccessful bail application in the Durban Magistrate’s Court.
Maistry, who has made four unsuccessful bail applications, has pleaded not guilty, as have his co-accused.
A former accused, Sifiso Joyisa, who pleaded guilty last year to killing Naidoo and implicated Maistry as the mastermind, is serving a 40-year sentence at Westville Prison.
While Jobe and Manyathi elected to remain silent when the trial began last month, Maistry, via Matthews, said in a brief affidavit that he had nothing to do with his wife’s kidnapping and death.
Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that Manyathi’s defence counsel is challenging the State’s claim that a bottle found in Naidoo’s car contained his DNA.
The DNA claim, which was accepted by his defence at the start of the trial but has now being rejected, means that forensic experts from Pretoria might have to testify.
The three accused are in custody at Westville Prison.