Carlo Petersen
FOUR minutes. That is all the time the owner of Isis jewellery store in Hout Bay needed to identify Oscar Barends as one of the five men who allegedly robbed his shop in October last year.
The Wynberg Magistrate’s Court heard yesterday how the owner was asked by police to scan through 45 photographs during an identification process on December 4, but needed little time to point out Barends.
On October 24, men dressed as police officers entered the jewellery store, and minutes later fled with R2.5 million worth of jewellery and diamonds, the court heard.
Barends, 41, and Tembalethu Mpalweni, 26, have since been linked to a spate of robberies at city malls in recent months.
Barends and Mpalweni face charges in connection with armed robberies at shops and malls in Fish Hoek, Century City, Cape Town and Kuils River. The State said it believed the two men were part of a bigger syndicate.
Barends, from Mandalay, and Mpalweni, from Nyanga, also face charges of armed robbery for the Isis incident.
The court heard their bail hearing yesterday.
Defence attorney Andile Dunga questioned investigating officer Melvyn Geldenhuys about the validity of an unofficial identity parade. Geldenhuys said he used five pages, each with nine photographs, for the identification process and that the Isis owner had taken just four minutes to identify Barends.
Dunga questioned whether Barends posed a risk to witnesses and disputed the use of cellphone records to link the accused to the robbery. He said these factors, including the identification process, should be treated with caution and warranted exceptional circumstances to grant bail.
Prosecutor Rahidien Cullis argued that the State had a strong case. “Out of |45 photographs, the complainant identified accused one (Barends) in four minutes. Accused two’s (Mpalweni) fingerprints were found in the owner’s office.
“We have cellphone records of both accused being in the vicinity of Hout Bay on the day of the robbery. They were in contact before and after the incident,” he said.
Cullis said Barends had been granted bail for a robbery at a jewellery store in Cape Town in December.
Mpalweni will appear at the Simon’s Town Magistrate’s Court today in connection with an armed |robbery of a Fish Hoek supermarket in October, and also has another matter pending regarding a robbery at a cellphone shop in Kuils River. Barends was also linked to a jewellery store robbery in Canal Walk in October, Cullis said.
“There are no exceptional circumstances and we submit that the accused will commit the same crime again. It is the State’s submission that these are schedule six offences and that bail be denied,” he said.
Magistrate Xoliswa Ndo-yana will make a decision regarding bail tomorrow.