Cape Town - The State has openly admitted that police’s Local Criminal Record Centre was unable to retrieve vital video footage from a disc, as it appeared to be blank.
The evidence was to have been part of important evidence led in the six-year murder case of a City Fire and Rescue dispatcher.
This revelation was made at the Wynberg Regional Court on Friday, where Shaquille Groep, Justin Hendricks, Shane Hendricks and Xavia Simpson are accused of the murder of Michael Davids.
The State is set to prove that the group had allegedly stabbed Davids, 31, of Blackheath to death after giving him a lift in Schaapkraal, Philippi and that they had robbed him of his belongings and urinated on him before dumping his body in June, 2018.
During proceedings on Friday, while Davids’ distraught family and his girlfriend and her mother were present, the State admitted key video footage which had been in possession of the police’s Local Crime Record Centre (LCRC) could not be retrieved and that the disc was blank.
The footage relates to certain admissions and cannot be mentioned publicly. A witness for the State was expected to deliver evidence yesterday relating to the footage, which was supposed to have been played in the open court. But the State said they were at a loss as to what had become of it.
Magistrate Karel Meyer interjected, asking whether the LCRC was present to answer to what had happened.
“A State witness was provided; is the State witness here? The footage is missing, the disc is blank,” Meyer said.
Advocate Martin Williams, Groep’s defence lawyer, also stated the urgency of the footage in the case: “I do think it is important that the State witness testifies and it is in the interest of the public and the family; it is unacceptable.”
Meyer said the matter would be heard on May 3 for continuation of the trial and confirmed that the prosecution officer presiding over the case and one of the defence lawyers were also not present.
Danie Isaacs, Davids’ cousin, who has been at all the court appearances and has been holding the State accountable for the delay, said they were disappointed at yet another mishap.
“The prosecutor promised us this case will start today, and look how they postpone this case ... and we feel like we will never get justice for Michael,” said Isaacs.
“The fact that they are saying the disc is blank does not make sense. They need to go back to the hard drive and go check there.
“He was a dispatcher to save people’s lives. The State has not done anything.
“I got a private investigator and we gave them evidence which they got in the palm of their hands.”
The family stated that vital blood DNA evidence which allegedly linked the accused also played important role in the case.
The State is set to prove that Davids’ was apparently involved in an argument with his girlfriend on June 30, 2018 and left her premises and walked along the roads of Schaapkraal, Philippi when he apparently encountered the group.
The group allegedly robbed Davids’ of his Sony Ericsson cellphone and other belongings. They then apparently urinated on him and dumped his body along Olieboom Road in Philippi.
Police discovered Davids’ body ‒ dressed only in his underpants ‒ on July 1, 2018, and it was riddled with stab wounds.
With the assistance of private investigator Johan Beukes, the suspects were apprehended thanks to cellphone links.
The cellphone had been sold to a new buyer who had been located at his workplace in Montague Gardens