Footage captured in Fischer’s Jewellers and in Greenacres and the complex’s parking area led police to release two men whom they initially suspected were part of a July 2016 heist that ended in murder, the Port Elizabeth High Court heard on Wednesday.
Since the start of the trial – in which four men are charged with a litany of offences related to the jewellery robbery – the footage, captured on several CCTV cameras, has been a thorny issue for defence lawyer Zolile Ngqeza, who has questioned its authenticity.
On Wednesday, the initial investigating officer, Detective Warrant Officer Errol Whittal, told the court that on July 29 2016 he attended the crime scenes in and around the Greenacres shopping complex and was shown footage by Fischer’s co-director, Bernhard Moser, hours after the robbery.
Whittal said it was after this that the two men, detained by members of the police’s intervention unit, were released because they did not match the clothing of suspects seen in the footage and were lighter in complexion.
The two men were detained after they were spotted near the scene where Ronald Goduka, 67, was shot dead in a botched hijacking attempt after the robbery at Fischer’s.
Lindokuhle January, 21, Olwethu Dlanga, 21, Awonke Yako, 20, and Lonwabo Maweni, 42, have pleaded not guilty to all 12 charges against them, including murder, kidnapping and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The state alleges that the accused first hijacked a Chinese national in Komani and made off with his Honda CR-V.
They used the vehicle when they arrived at Greenacres on the morning of July 16.
After allegedly robbing Fischer’s of more than R600,000 worth of items, they ran to the parking lot, only to find that their getaway driver had fled the scene.
They then allegedly attempted to hijack a white Mitsubishi Colt bakkie and, in the process, Goduka was fatally shot.
On Wednesday Ngqeza, representing January, questioned Whittal on why he did not include the fact that he had viewed the footage at Fischer’s in his affidavit, prompting judge Glenn Goosen to question Ngqeza on the merits of his line of questioning.
“What is the relevance of whether [Whittal wrote in his statement that] he viewed the footage or not?
“It takes the matter nowhere,” Goosen said.