Durban - Private investigator Brad Nathanson, who was instrumental in linking police with the man accused of murdering Siam Lee, said he was “bitterly disappointed” that a bail ruling in favour of the man was “handed down on the strength of a lunatic”.
“We did absolutely nothing illegal during our investigation, and proper process was followed.
“And this will be our testimony for the rest of time,” he said.
The Daily News asked Nathanson what his thoughts were on magistrate Mahomed Motala’s comments in granting R40 000 bail to the 29-year-old, known only as Mr P.
He cannot be identified because he also faces a rape charge in this matter.
During the bail application judgment on Wednesday, Motala said the State did not go through the proper processes while arresting the man.
He said the State could easily have obtained search warrants at the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court.
He also took issue with the involvement of private investigators for not following proper procedures when arresting the suspect.
“We took very much a back-seat after we told police how we’d connected the dots and worked out who Mr P is,” said Nathanson, before referring the Daily News to a post on his Facebook page where he wrote about the comments made during the bail judgment.
In the post, Nathanson said “the arrest was never ‘bungled’ by anybody other than the accused”.
Arrest
He then gave a detailed account of what happened on the day of the arrest and said Brad Nathanson Investigations (BNI) “did not search the accused’s house illegally or even at all”, and that they “had nothing to do with evidence that was collected by the SAPS and placed into SAPS custody”.
Further, he said BNI did not act unlawfully when Mr P was detained.
“To slate us on social media is one thing, but for BNI to stand accused, by inference, of ‘bungling’ the arrest deserves an apology, as does the investigating officer,” he said.
Nathanson also denied they tortured Mr P.
“What did we hope to extract from him? Everybody knows that a confession made under duress may be deemed inadmissible, so why? We had substantial evidence. It’s not easy to get into the mind of a lunatic, but to take this man’s word I might liken to swallowing poison,” he said.
The Assagay man was arrested in January for the alleged murder of Lee, 20.
Her charred body was found in the Midlands in January.
He was arrested shortly afterwards by Nathanson and his team.
DNA results confirmed months later that the burnt body was indeed hers.
In handing down judgment, Motala considered Mr P’s personal and business circumstances.
He had told the court he looked after his mother, brother and employed 17 people.
Mr P had no previous convictions.
His bail application had been long and drawn out, lasting 13court dates.
Mr P faces 16 counts including kidnapping Lee, fraud, crimen injuria and a rape charge unrelated to Lee.
He has been in police custody for almost five months.
The matter is set to continue in court in August.
Police said they would only comment on the magistrate’s remarks about the police after reading Motala’s judgment.