/ 16 August 2010

Squabbles over cellphone records at Agliotti trial

Squabbles Over Cellphone Records At Agliotti Trial

The state has implied that Glenn Agliotti’s defence team may have manipulated his cellphone records.

In the South Gauteng High Court on Monday afternoon, where drug dealer Agliotti is in the dock for the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble in 2005, a long day of going through cellphone records ended in angry squabbles between the state and the defence.

As soon as defence counsel Laurance Hodes began his cross-examination of MTN specialist data analyst Hilda du Plessis, he pointed out that Agliotti’s billing statements were different to the records supplied by Du Plessis to the state.

In response, state prosecutor Kholeka Kgaleka said that it was possible that records that Hodes had could be “a forgery”.

“The witness says that if it’s on a disk, like my learned friend said he has, then it can be manipulated,” said Kgaleka.

Also, much to Judge Frans Kgomo’s disbelief, Du Plessis said that the billing statement could only have been obtained with an application in terms of section 205 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Court then adjourned early for Du Plessis to produce the confidentiality clause in the client’s contract, which shows that a section 205 application would be necessary to obtain phone records.

The trial continues on Tuesday morning.

The M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism, supported by M&G Media and the Open Society Foundation for South Africa, produced this story.www.amabhungane.co.za.