The Kempton Park regional court will decide on Friday whether bail will be granted to nine people on trial for the multi-million dollar heist at Johannesburg International airport last month.
Nazir Ismail, Magdalena Moonsamy, Ebrahim and Sean Soobramoney, Mzikise Maqwaza, Vusimuzi Ichumelo, Phutsitsi and Annanius Nepfumbe, and Danisa Nee Tsuma face charges of conspiracy to commit robbery.
A tenth alleged robber, Bhekithembo Khumalo, died of wounds he sustained when he was shot during his arrest two weeks ago.
The nine accused include airport security guards and staff of the Airport Company South Africa (Acsa).
Their lawyers argued on Thursday that unless their clients were granted bail, they could spend two to three years awaiting trial in horrific prison conditions.
Attacking the credibility of the investigating officer, Peter Mbobani, the lawyers called him a ”pathological liar” and a ”stranger to the truth” who had contradicted himself in evidence and cross-examination and had failed to prepare himself for court.
They contended he had presented conflicting evidence about an identity parade, discussed the trial with a fellow officer while under oath, and not checked the serial numbers of recovered banknotes he claimed were stolen in the heist.
Opposing bail, state prosecutor Kaizer Mpepele claimed the crime was premeditated. The investigation was at an early stage, with 25 suspects still at large in other countries, he told the court. He submitted that some of the accused knew the suspects and witnesses in the case, with whom they could interfere.
While the defence claimed the alleged crime was not so serious that it deprived the accused of their automatic right to bail, the prosecution argued that it indeed fell into that category of crime which required the accused to prove it would be in the interests of justice to grant them bail.
The defence lawyers further argued that their preparations for the bail application had been hampered by the court’s refusal to grant them access to police dockets, allegedly implicating some of their clients in other robberies at the airport in 2004 and 2005.
Magistrate Eric Mhlari found that allowing them access to the docket could jeopardise police investigations.
While the nine accused could apply for bail, they were not entitled to the statements in the police dockets, which related to ongoing investigations, he ruled. — Sapa