NO BAIL FOR COP IN ATTEMPTED MURDER CASE

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.

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