Cape Town - One of the three men accused of the murder of Cape Town lawyer Pete Mihalik said there was no evidence that he was on the crime scene and claims the investigating officer built a case against him based on false and incorrect facts.
This was the basis of Vuyile Maliti’s affidavit in his bail application.
He and his co-accused, Sizwe Biyela and Nkosinathi Khumalo, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
It is the State’s case that the accused planned and carried out Mihalik’s murder in broad daylight in Green Point on October 30, 2018.
CCTV video footage shows the shooter firing into Mihalik’s car, fatally wounding him and injuring his son.
Evidence presented by the investigating officer, Charl Kinnear, showed that cellphone records indicated a total of 84 calls were made between the accused the day before and the day of the murder.
Maliti, denying that he was involved in the murder and disputing the cellphone records, said: “The investigating officer states that he has established that I used cellphone number 0735751961 on October 29th and 30th, 2018.
“This is a blatant lie and the investigating officer committed perjury
and misled the court.
“I challenge the State to prove that my old cellphone which I used approximately two years ago was used or tracked in the areas mentioned by the investigating officer.”
Maliti said the Volkswagen Polo, which the gunmen is seen jumping into after the shooting, was not his car.
Maliti said that the State did not have a strong case against him and only had circumstantial evidence, which proved that exceptional circumstances exist and that he could be released on bail.
State prosecutor Helen Booysen said she would seek for the case to be referred to the Western Cape High Court.
On July 29, magistrate Jacobs would deliver a decision regarding their bail applications.