Johannesburg - A medical file, which is an integral part of the trial of Sindisiwe Manqele, who is accused of killing Skwatta Kamp rapper Nkululeko “Flabba” Habedi, has apparently gone missing.
This is according to the investigating officer, Constable Seila Malaka, who testified in the high court sitting in Randburg on Monday.
Malaka, who took over the case the day the rapper was killed on March 9, told the court that he went to Alexandra Clinic twice but couldn’t find the file.
The business studies student has pleaded not guilty to Habedi’s murder, saying she stabbed him in self-defence.
Her medical report is important as it would shed light on the injuries that she alleges were caused by the rapper.
Malaka told the court he interviewed Manqele after the stabbing and she admitted that she slit her wrists after she realised her boyfriend was dead.
He said she “complained of pain on her abdomen” that she said she sustained when the rapper pushed her outside a Sandton club, hours before he died.
But Manqele, through her lawyer Norman Makhubela, claims that at the time, she lifted part of her top and showed Malaka the injuries on her abdomen. He had told her that he couldn’t look at the abdomen because he was a male officer.
Malaka denied that, saying she had only touched her abdominal area and he wrote down the injuries that were reported to him.
While the defence argued that Manqele sprained her ankle during a scuffle with Habedi which caused her to limp, Malaka said she didn’t show any discomfort.
The defence accused Malaka of poor police work, saying he interviewed Manqele while she didn’t have a lawyer present.
But Malaka said Manqele agreed to have the conversation without legal representation, saying she wanted a lawyer only when she appeared in court.
The rapper was killed when he sustained a single stab wound to his chest, near his heart, at his Alexandra, Joburg, home.
Manqele maintains that she stabbed him in a bid to save her own life as he was attacking her in his bedroom.
The court heard from Habedi’s relatives and paramedics that Manqele had tried to perform CPR and begged him to live.
The dispute that ultimately cost Habedi his life allegedly stemmed from jealousy. His friend Nkululeko Chauke testified last week that the couple were fighting at the nightclub the evening before he was killed.
He said Manqele was jealous because she thought Habedi was flirting with other women.
But the defence claims that the rapper was the jealous one, and attacked Manqele when another man spoke to her.
The State closed its case on Monday, and Manqele was expected to testify on Tuesday.
The Star