The forensic analyst who assessed Judge Nkola Motata’s blood-alcohol content on Wednesday admitted to ignoring scientific standards when analysing his blood samples.
He said this during cross-examination by defence advocate Danie Dorfling in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court.
”Do you agree with me that what you did, you ignored the CSIR [Counsel for Scientific Industrial Research] standards?” Dorfling asked Logan Govender.
In response, Govender said: ”That’s correct.”
By using the wrong temperature, wrong density of water and wrong volume of liquid, Govender admitted he arrived at the wrong formula, which affected the blood-alcohol percentages he got.
Giving evidence in court in November last year, he testified that the sample he analysed recorded a concentration of alcohol in the blood of 0,2g per 100ml. The legal limit is 0,05g per 100ml.
On Wednesday he said a mix-up of files in the Johannesburg forensic laboratory was to blame as the ”wrong batch number was added to Motata’s certificate [files]”.
”It is obvious that I wrote the wrong volume from the different certificates,” he said.
Further probing him, Dorfling asked: ”You erred on the batch number and the alcohol concentration…?”
Govender replied: ”Yes.”
The trial continues. — Sapa