Durban - A leading forensic scientist
and a retired senior police officer
have questioned the training of the
police officer responsible for the
discharge of a shotgun in court that led
to the death of an advocate.
South African-born David Klatzow, a private forensic consultant now based in the UK but who still works in this country, said he was “lost for words” at the incompetence that caused the death of senior state prosecutor advocate Addelaid Ferreira-Watt.
The shotgun was discharged in the Umzimkhulu Regional Court, near Ixopo. Ferreira-Watt was hit and died in hospital.
Klatzow said the discharge was a criminal act and that the officer responsible for it should be “punished immediately”. “It’s the police who are supposed to know about firearms, who check on people like me.”
He stressed that owners of firearms or those who used them were legally required to have completed and passed a competency test.
“I am lost for words at the level of incompetency, all round, for everybody in this sad and sorry case,” he said.
Retired policeman Lieutenant-
Colonel Sipho Mbhele, 71, said he could not fathom how a loaded gun made it into the court.
Police collected the weapon in question on Monday. It belonged to the victims of a 2014 robbery in which a couple was attacked with Tasers, held at gunpoint and assaulted on their farm. The attackers stole the couple’s shotgun, which police later recovered.
Police allowed the couple to keep the weapon for their safety, and police collected it for the court hearing.
The woman victim reportedly told the policeman to whom she handed it that she did not know whether or not it was loaded.
Klatzow said if the owners had not passed a competency test, they were legally not allowed to even touch the weapon. “The laws are draconian, but not for the police,” said Klatzow.
Mbhele, who was a detective for more than 20 years, outlined the strict firearm handling procedure for police. “When a crime scene officer arrives at the scene and finds a gun or it’s handed over to him, the first thing he does is check if it is safe, the firing pin is safe, then pulls out the magazine, cocks the firearm to see if there’s a bullet in the chamber, and removes it,” he said.
Klatzow said that in the case of a shotgun, it should be broken and checked for cartridges in the chamber.
Mbhele said bullets - and the magazine of a gun - and firearms were placed in separate packages and, for recording purposes, the crime scene officer was supposed to count the number of bullets. “From there, they take it to the charge office. The magazine does not get returned to the gun and the bullets don’t stay in the chamber. You hand over the gun, magazine and bullets separately,” said Mbhele.
“Once in the charge office, the evidence gets entered into an exhibit register (SAP13).
“You enter (the number of) guns, magazines and number of rounds,” he said.
“These are packed separately; bullets are not put back into the magazine because this is dangerous.”
It was from this practice that all evidence stemmed, said Mbhele, who has received a diploma in policing encompassing the gathering of
evidence and handling of exhibits.
“So if the evidence is needed during a court trial or for a ballistics report, then the court clerk would make a formal request to the charge office.
“While in court, there is no way you can take the magazine and put it back into the gun, let alone the bullets. It is not allowed because when in a building (like a courtroom) the gun must always be safe,” he said.
“If the gun went off, that means there was a bullet in the chamber and the firing pin was not on safety. Whoever took that firearm to court was involved in gross negligence.”
He questioned whether “the person who handled the gun” had received training.
Klatzow stressed that it was firearms that were presumed to be unloaded that were discharged and killed people.
“If the owner were to say (to a policeman), ‘I don’t know if it’s loaded’, that is immediately a warning. (The woman) should not have handed a loaded gun to anybody,” he said.
“Then there’s the idiot cop who took possession of the weapon. Did he have a competency certificate?”
He said almost 50% of officers did not have competency certificates.
Klatzow also questioned why the weapon was pointing in the direction of the counsel.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) said an
official investigation had been opened against a police officer alleged to have been handling the firearm when it was
discharged.
“Because Ipid is investigating the matter, we are responsible for
collecting all the necessary and
relevant evidence from the court through to prosecution,” said
spokesperson Sontaga Seisa.
On the issue of the shotgun
having been handed back to the
robbery victims when it was still needed as a court exhibit, a top Durban lawyer, who did not wish to be named, said this was acceptable if there was no dispute about the “nature of the weapon”, its components, its “science” or whether or not it was stolen.
“I actually find it quite liberating that the police understood the farmers’ need to protect themselves,” said the lawyer.
If fingerprints had been needed, or if it had been used to fire a shot at the scene of the crime, it would have been important to retain it in the chain of custody.
The DA’s spokesperson on police, Andrew Whitfield, said that it
was unacceptable that such negligence could have led to Ferreira-Watt’s
death.
“A full investigation must be
conducted and a detailed report
presented to Parliament’s portfolio committee on police.”
Messages of “Rest in Peace” were posted on Ferreira-Watt’s Facebook page throughout the week.
On the morning of her death, she had posted on issues from the environment to rugby.
Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Gert Nel said the
hearing of five men accused of the farm robbery would resume on
February 3.
“The prosecutor, Mr S Nkhonzo, will continue to represent the State,” Nel said.
“He has been presenting the evidence. One of the accused is in custody, while four are on bail.”