/ 19 June 2009

Court hears of confusion over Yengeni’s arrest time

The alleged falsification of Toni Yengeni's drunken-driving docket caused confusion, the Parow Regional Court heard on Friday.

The alleged falsification of Toni Yengeni’s drunken-driving docket caused confusion, the Parow Regional Court heard on Friday.

The result was a confrontation in which a police captain at the Goodwood police station was accused of ”not knowing what was going on”.

This was the testimony of Captain Yolande Adonis, shift commander at the Goodwood police station, in the trial of former station commander Siphiwo Hewana. He faces charges of attempting to defeat the ends of justice, incitement to commit perjury and interfering with former African National Congress chief whip Yengeni’s drunken-driving investigation.

Adonis was questioned at length on Friday by prosecutor Barry van der Berg and defence attorney Greg Duncan.

Yengeni was arrested for alleged drunken driving in early hours of Monday morning November 26 2007, and the date and time of his arrest was duly noted as 12.20am in a register at the police station.

It is alleged, however, that Hewana, on orders from Western Cape provincial police commissioner Mzwandile Petros, instructed the investigating official to unlawfully change the time of arrest from 12.20am that Monday to 9pm on Sunday.

The purpose was allegedly to save Yengeni, who was on parole, from returning to prison to complete a sentence for fraud. He was not allowed to be out on the road after 10pm, or consume liquor, during his parole period.

Adonis told the court that as she was the shift commander that night, the arresting officer, Constable Charles Japhta, reported Yengeni’s arrest to her.

However, in early December, she was approached by police Director Denise Brand and the provincial detective chief, Raymond Ntobela, who wanted to examine the register.

Ntobela asked her what time Yengeni had been arrested, and her reply was 12.20am on November 26.

Adonis told the court: ”They then asked me why it was being said that the arrest had happened at 9pm, and I said I do not know, as my information was that it had happened at 12.20am.

”They said that Hewana himself had said the arrest happened at 9pm, that Japhta had also said it was 9pm, and how come I, as the shift commander, do not know what’s going on at my own station.

”I was confused, and said I do not know what’s going on, but that Japhta had informed me on the night in question that Yengeni had been arrested at 12.20am.”

Adonis said a Commissioner Vlok had by then joined them, and Vlok told Japhta to tell the truth, and asked Japhta who he was trying to protect.

Adonis said Japhta was visibly uncomfortable, and asked to speak to Vlok alone in an office.

Yengeni has since been acquitted on the drunken-driving charge.

The trial continues. — Sapa