Simba Mhere trial: tracker evidence questioned

The late Top Billing presenter, Simba Mhere.

The late Top Billing presenter, Simba Mhere.

Published Feb 7, 2017

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Johannesburg – The defence in the trial against Preshalin Naidoo has questioned the credibility of car tracker evidence, the Randburg Magistrate's Court heard on Tuesday.

Naidoo faces a charge of culpable homicide and has been accused of causing the January 2015 car accident that claimed the lives of Top Billing presenter Simba Mhere and his friend Kady-Shay O'Bryan.

Defence advocate François Roets cross-examined Car Track Fleet Manager Lorenz Stoger about his qualifications and knowledge of car tracker systems.

"Is it true that car track is for tracking a stolen vehicle?" Roets asked. "Yes that's true", Stoger responded.

Roets argued that Stoger didn't have an engineering qualification and relied on manuals from field experts to interpret information received from the system.

"You were not present when the unit was fitted (in Naidoo's vehicle) and did you see where it came from?," Roets asked Stoger.

Stoger told the court that the exact location of the unit that's fitted into a vehicle was not known by himself or the customer to prevent tampering with the product.

He explained to the court that the product had a GPS receiver which was responsible for the positioning.

Roets argued that car track's purpose was not to monitor accidents but to track stolen vehicles.

He said one of the GPS coordinates provided by Stoger lead to a patch of grass and not to the road, which proved that their system was not 100% accurate.

The trial continues.

African News Agency

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