COP ACQUITTED OF WIFE’S MURDER

MBABANE – The High Court has reached a ‘not guilty’ verdict against a police officer, who was accused of murdering his wife.

This is after investigators allegedly did a shoddy job in their investigation. A concern raised by the presiding judge was that it all looked like a cover-up by the police, who must have been trying to protect one of their own, in the gruesome murder that occurred about 19 years ago. In a bid to offer an explanation, a police officer, who was paraded by the prosecution as a witness, hinted that at the time when the crime was committed, there was little knowledge in the police service about forensic science-related matters. His explanation was that he could have done things differently had the investigation taken place in the present time.

The police officer had been asked, during cross-examination, if the bullet head could have come from the firearm presented in court. His response was that he did not know, because he was no ballistic expert. It was put to him by the defence that the used cartridge did not match the pistol. He admitted that the failure to take the bullet for analysis deprived the court of crucial evidence. After considering the evidence presented in court, the presiding judge acquitted the accused person of the crime of murder. Instead, Principal Judge Qinisile Mabuza, who was presiding over the matter, found Sipho Thwala liable of a lesser offence of culpable homicide. Thwala was initially charged with the murder of his wife, Susan Thwala, on March 09, 2005, at their marital home of Nhlambeni, in the Manzini region. He was alleged to have shot Susan with a service firearm.

Employed

The deceased was employed as a personal assistant of then Minister of Enterprise and Employment Lutfo Dlamini, at the time of her demise. At the commencement of the trial, the accused entered a plea of not guilty for his actions. Then during trial, the accused argued that his actions were a result of provocation and that he had acted in self-defence. The marathon trial dragged for about a decade, after it commenced on March 11, 2014. After both the prosecution and the defence had made their closing submissions, the court took a break and returned with a ‘not guilty’ verdict against the accused, in respect to the offence of murder.

There were many challenging issues for the court to consider before settling for its ultimate conclusion, including whether there was any intention to kill by the accused person and whether the firearm that was brought to court as an exhibit, was the one that was used in the fatal shooting. It transpired during the trial that investigators had made a shoddy job in their investigation surrounding the firearm in question. The court was only assisted by the admission of the accused that the deceased died by his hand, when he shot her. It was gathered that none of the firearm components found at the scene matched the pistol, nor the revolver.

The presiding judge observed that it was difficult to prove there was any intention to kill on the part of the accused person.  She noted that the accused had advanced a plausible story to support his argument of self-defence.  As a result, she said the circumstances permitted her to give the murder accused police officer the benefit of the doubt. “The events around the shooting of the deceased indicate that the accused person was defending himself. The prosecution has suggested that he could have aimed at a less vulnerable place on her body instead of the forehead. I agree, particularly, because he was a trained marksman and because of their close proximity to one another in the room. She never stood a chance.

“Was there intention to kill? It is difficult to come to that conclusion, because the shooting happened on the spur of the moment,” observed Principal Judge Mabuza. A service firearm was alleged to have been used in the murder. A witness, who was paraded by the prosecution, who was in charge of the police armoury, testified that she had not authorised the release of the two firearms presented as evidence, being a 9mm pistol and a .38 revolver, which were discovered missing from the gunroom, when she was instructed by the station commander to go and check if everything was in order.

Inspection

The former station administrator recalled that the instruction to conduct an inspection at the armoury was issued on March 10, 2005, following an impromptu visit to the Tshaneni police station by detectives, who arrived looking for Sipho. It later transpired that the unexpected visit had been prompted by the death of Sipho’s wife, who had been gunned down on the previous night. The detectives disclosed that the accused could not be located anywhere at the time. There was also the suspicion that the murder weapon may have belonged to the police service, hence the reason for checking if everything was in order at the armoury.

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