OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pietermaritzburg | Thursday 11.00PM.
THE officer investigating the Richmond tavern massacre in which eight people were killed has been criticised during a bail application for not attempting to verify the accused’s alibi.
Mbongeleni Mtolo, 26, a former policeman and driver for United Democratic Movement secretary Sifiso Nkabinde, was arrested in connection with the massacre in which a group of attackers burst into a tavern and opened fire on people watching a World Cup soccer match. He applied for bail in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
“The accused believes that you are biased, that you have already chosen who is telling the truth and who is lying and that is why you have chosen not to follow up his alibi,” defence attorney Petrus Coetzee told investigating officer Captain Sipho Mbele.
Mtolo’s alibi, that he was at a UDM meeting at the University of Zululand in Empangeni at the time of the attack, was printed on the front page of the Natal Witness the day after his arrest on August 25 and broadcast in an SABC TV report.
Mbele said he had not yet tested the alibi because he had witness statements which contradicted it — another UDM member had told him of a meeting at which Mtolo and his alleged co-conspirators had planned the massacre. Also, Mtolo had not said anything about his alibi when he elected to remain silent during police interrogation.
Mbele added that his investigation was still continuing and that he might attempt to verify the alibi if it became necessary.
The hearing continues on Friday.