The rape trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma enters its ninth day in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday.
After more than a week of sensational and at times graphic medical testimony, proceedings on Wednesday focused on the technicalities of the investigation.
Gauteng head of detective services Commissioner Norman Taioe was made to explain why a potentially crucial exchange between Zuma and the police was left out of his official report.
This related to Zuma allegedly pointing out the guest bedroom when asked to show police the alleged crime scene, which Zuma’s lawyer Kemp J Kemp regarded as entrapment.
Later in proceedings the court was whisked through a complex map of the telephone exchanges between the main characters that have featured in the case.
Phone record analyst Jan Le Roux’s slideshow detailed a flurry of communications before and after November 2, the date Zuma is alleged to have raped a 31-year-old family friend.
Proceedings ended early with testimony from lawyer Yusuf Dockrat, who the woman consulted with her mother and friend after the alleged rape.
Meanwhile, the loud protests outside the court that have characterised the trial appear to be levelling off with only a handful of people keeping watch outside the court on Wednesday.
But the corridor outside court 4E remains filled with a loyal core of family and friends of the accused, some wearing traditional Zulu attire and when Zuma passes, a male supporter breaks into impromptu praising, accompanied by the high pitched ululations of a group of women.
Zuma sits quietly throughout the proceedings on a colourful cushion, standing up in adjournments for consultation with his lawyers.
His bodyguards form a protective shield behind him, restocking his water supply from a small cooler box.
Taioe told the court on Wednesday that he had not read Zuma his rights when he visited the house where the alleged rape took place.
He also omitted from his statement a potentially crucial exchange about the location of the alleged rape.
Taioe toild the court that he did not complete the necessary form containing this information after the visit to Zuma’s house, and it was not in his report. It was in his consulting notes, which he brought to court on Wednesday.
Displaying his trademark persistence, Kemp said according to police procedure, there is a form that has to be completed every time a suspect is questioned.
Kemp accused Taioe of trying to trap Zuma by arriving at the house and asking him to point out the ”alleged crime scene”.
The woman who has accused Zuma of raping her on November 2 last year has told the court it took place in the guest room, while Kemp says that Zuma will say they had consensual sex in his bedroom.
Kemp asked if Taioe had expected Zuma to point anything out to him on that day, and whether he was aware of the requirements for admissible pointing out, and the procedures and safeguards relating to this.
Taioe said it was not necessary for him to warn Zuma as the former deputy president was accompanied by his lawyer Michael Hulley throughout.
”His lawyer should have advised him what to say to us, where to show us,” said Taioe.
Kemp asked why Taioe did not just ask where the guest room was, where the complainant had slept. Taioe said it was his prerogative to pose questions as he chose.
He told the court it ”slipped my mind” not to add into the official record that Zuma had pointed out the alleged crime scene when asked to do so. – Sapa