Times Of Swaziland: NO BAIL FOR COP IN ATTEMPTED MURDER CASE

NO BAIL FOR COP IN ATTEMPTED MURDER CASE
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BY MBONGISENI NDZIMANDZE  on 24/09/2020 01:04:00


MBABANE – The police officer who is alleged to have attempted to kill his
former girlfriend in full view of members of the public at the Mbabane
Government Hospital, has been denied bail.
The law enforcer, Sibusiso Fannie Lusenga, who once attempted to kill himself by
drinking sanitiser, is alleged to have tried to end the life of Nontokozo Hlophe
by stabbing her with a knife several times.
After his arrest on June 18, 2020, Lusenga moved an urgent application for bail,
which was, however, vigorously opposed by the Crown.
His bail application was dismissed by Judge Maxine Langwenya yesterday, who said
in her view, there were sufficient reasons to come to the conclusion that it
would not be in the interest of justice to release Lusenga on bail.
Violently
“When a police officer acts violently in a domestic setting towards a partner,
such conduct is diametrically opposed to what a police officer is supposed to
do, that is, to protect society and these cases do receive a lot of attention
from the public,” said Judge Langwenya.
The court further pointed out that the public ultimately wanted to see justice
prevail by having the perpetrator brought to trial.
“To achieve that, the justice system must not fail them and the courts must as
far as possible strike a balance between the rights and interests of the
accused, public interest and the administration of justice on the other hand,”
said the court. The judge stated that in this case, there were sufficient
reasons that it would not be prudent to release Lusenga on bail.
She also highlighted that she had considered the strength of the Crown’s case,
which prima facie linked Lusenga directly to the crime charged.
“I have also taken into account the fact that while the  accused was
prohibited from committing any violent conduct towards the complainant by the
magistrate court,  he attacked and assaulted the complainant and was
subsequently charged with contempt of court  and infringing the Sexual Offences
and Domestic Violence Act as an alternative count to attempted murder,” said
Judge Langwenya.
Respect
The judge mentioned that the behaviour of Lusenga in this regard was to her
indicative of a person who had very little or no respect for the law.
The court further highlighted that: “Conduct of this nature certainly poses a
threat to the interest of the administration of justice and consequently, is
likely to adversely impact on the accused person’s quest to obtain his
freedom.”
During the argument of the bail application, Lusenga informed the court that his
health was in jeopardy if his incarceration continued because he suffered from
asthma. He averred that he was afraid he would contract COVID-19 while in the
custody of the correctional services.
In her judgment, Judge Langwenya, however, agreed with the Crown’s averments
that the Correctional Services had medical facilities that were equipped and
able to attend to medical complaints of inmates in their care.
She further pointed out that the Correctional Services also referred inmates to
public hospitals if the medical condition could not be addressed in an in-house
health facility.
It was the court’s observation that it was not argued that the in-house
medical facilities where Lusenga was kept and other public hospitals where
serious conditions  were referred to by the Correctional Services had failed to
deal with Lusenga’s medical condition.
Furthermore, the court said there seemed to be a strong possibility that Lusenga
might try to commit suicide when released on bail. During the argument of
Lusenga’s application for bail, the investigating officer revealed that the
accused was a person of suicidal tendencies.
According to the investigator, Lusenga attempted to end his life by overdosing
on medication and also drinking sanitiser.
Judge Langwenya, who heard the bail application, noted that the court was not
told that Lusenga had since overcome his thought of bringing to an end his own
life.
“In conclusion, Lusenga’s claim of being innocent and denial that he will
not abscond and will not interfere with Crown witnesses, considered against
those factors relied on by the Crown in its opposition of the bail application,
are not very  reassuring,” stated the judge.
Judge Langwenya said, all evidence taken into account, she was not persuaded
that Lusenga had shown on balance of probabilities that it would be in the
interest of administration of justice that he should be admitted to bail pending
prosecution of the matter.