'Explain perjury to my client'

2007-08-09 09:43

Nivashni Nair

Durban - In an unprecedented move, the advocate of one of the three men accused of repeatedly raping three young women before attacking a couple in Pennington last year, has asked the Scottburgh High Court on Wednesday to remind her client of the law of perjury before calling his brother to support his alibi.

Shortly after 29-year-old Mthokozisi Innocent Mbambo advised his lawyer, Annelise Harrison, that he wanted his brother Xolani to testify that he was at home in his company when the Pennington attacks happened, the advocate asked Judge Leona Theron to remind her client of the perjury law.

Insistent the court explain the perjury law

A surprised Theron replied that it was not the time to bring up the matter as the norm is that after a witness has testified, he/she could face serious consequences if the court finds that the evidence was untruthful.

Harrison accepted this, but was nevertheless insistent that the court explain the perjury law to her client.

Before Judge Theron could give her final answer, Harrison requested that she and the other legal representatives meet with her in chambers to discuss the matter.

Mbambo's decision to call his brother to testify was prompted by intense cross-examination from State prosecutor Dorien Paver who had suggested that the only reason why Xolani Mbambo was not on his brother's witness list was because the alibi was a lie.

Mbambo had told the court that on December 29, when the three women aged between 20 and 22 years were repeatedly raped and robbed and a Johannesburg couple was attacked in Pennington, he was at his Oshabeni home watching television with his brother.

Paver put it to Mbambo that his brother had initially showed up at court to testify, but after consultation with Harrison, was not listed as a defence witness.

Mbambo said he had tried to phone his brother at home, but had been unsuccessful and that was why he was not in court.

'He's not going to support your claim'

Paver said: "That is a downright lie. Here's your brother and here you are in this dreadful predicament being charged for these dreadful crimes and your own brother does not make a plan to come to court. That doesn't seem right. It's quite obvious that Xolani is not here today (Wednesday) because he is not going to support your claim."

When asked about Phindile Thusi's evidence, which revealed that he had been in possession of two phones that had been stolen from the rape victims in December, Mbambo explained that the woman who claimed to be his girlfriend, was caught in possession of the phones and shifted the blame onto him because he had already been arrested.

Paver however rejected his explanation, saying that the phones were found at Mbambo's residence and not on Thusi.

Mbambo denied all the allegations against him and insisted that he knew nothing about the Pennington attacks.

Mbambo and his co-accused Sithembiso Joseph Shelembe (23) and Wonder Wiseman Mchunu (26) have been remanded into custody at the Umzinto prison until their next court appearance on September 10.

- The Witness