Times Of Swaziland: SUSPECT DISAPPEARS FROM CELL

SUSPECT DISAPPEARS FROM CELL
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Sibusiso Shange on 13/06/2023 09:13:00


MBABANE – Police officers were taken aback when they discovered a suspect
missing from a cell at the Mbabane Police Station.
Information gathered was to the effect that Phinda Martins escaped without a
trace shortly after Sergeant Tevin Ndlangamandla, who was the shift officer on
the day, had locked all the burglars leading to the cells.Testifying against
Martins, Ndlangamandla told the court that the shocking discovery was made after
officers under the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) came looking for the
suspect, who was kept in the cells at around 8pm.
suspect
He told the court that the officers requested for the cell keys in order to see
the suspect. Ndlangamandla told the court that he handed over the keys to the
officers as he was attending to other clients.“I told the officer to make sure
that they lock the cell and all buglars leading to it and return the keys after
seeing the suspect.“Within a short space of time, the officers informed me
that the burglar leading to the cell was widely opened with the padlock hanging
from the chain. I was shocked by what was said by the officers because I had
personally locked the burglar when I took over as the shift officer,”
Ndlangamandla told the court. He stated that he then proceeded to the cell only
to find three out of four suspects.
shocking
He told the court that what shocked him the most was that even the metallic
door, which he had personally locked, was unlocked. “I had locked the metallic
door with the long key and all the bundle of keys were under my custody before I
gave them to the CID officers,” he submitted.He stated that while wondering
about what had happened, one of the suspects informed him that the missing
suspect was Phinda Martins, who was charged with robbery among other
cases.Ndlangamandla told the court that he then verified the name of the missing
suspect from the RSP registry. He stated that he also verified with the officer
who handed over the shift to him. Ndlangamandla submitted that he raised the
alarm so that the police officers available at the time could search the police
station and the surrounding areas.
However, he told the court that the search was in vain as Martins was nowhere to
be seen.“I then reported the matter to the authorities before an inquiry file
was opened,” he submitted.
During cross-examination, Martins asked Ndlangamandla if there was a break-in to
the cell. He also asked when exactly the police officers discovered that he was
missing from the cell.
Worth noting is that Martins admitted having escaped from police custody.In
response, Ndlangamandla told the court that the discovery was made even before
the CID officers could use the cell keys. The matter has been adjourned until
July 14, 2023 for continuation.