Jub Jub urine samples questioned
2011-05-24 12:35
Johannesburg - There was no way of knowing whether the urine samples of murder-accused Molema Jub Jub Maarohanye and Themba Tshabalala were tampered with, the Protea Magistrate's Court heard on Tuesday.
Forensic analyst Jose van Rooyen said she had no influence on how samples were taken or how they were transported to the laboratory for forensic testing.
It was advisable that the samples were transported immediately to the laboratory by police as they needed to be preserved.
Van Rooyen is a forensic analyst for the Department of Health at its forensic laboratory in Johannesburg.
Cross-examination
Defence lawyer Ike Motloung was cross-examining Van Rooyen on Tuesday on how she conducted the analysis of the urine samples.
He asked her if there was any way that the defence would be able to take the samples for re-testing to get a second opinion.
Van Rooyen replied that there was not, as the samples were destroyed after the analysis.
Motloung said there had been wide media coverage of the case with reports had preliminary tests had found morphine and cocaine in the samples.
Van Rooyen said that when she was given the samples she was told that the case was high profile.
Motloung has repeatedly said that Maarohanye and Tshabalala's case would be a trial by media.
Maarohanye and Tshabalala were allegedly drag-racing when one of their Mini Coopers ploughed into a group of schoolchildren on Mdlalose Drive in Protea North on March 8, last year.
Four children died in the accident and two others suffered severe injuries, including brain damage.
Maarohanya and Tshabalala face charges of murder and attempted murder and driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Drugs found in urine samples
Earlier in the day, Van Rooyen testified that a number of drugs were found in the urine samples of Maarohanye and Tshabalala.
She told the court that the first sample was found to contain cocaine, codeine, benzoyl codeine, paracetamol, diphenhydramine and cotamine.
The second sample contained traces of cocaine, codeine, benzoyl codeine, nicotine, caffeine and paracetamol.
"These are all drugs," she said.
She said the samples did not show the levels of the substances.
Van Rooyen told the court that every piece of equipment she used to conduct the analysis was certified and that a quality control test was conducted before the analysis started.
She also told the court that she was a forensic analysis expert, but was not a toxicologist and could not say how the drugs would affect a person's behaviour.
Courtroom 6 at the Protea North court house filled up in the course of Tuesday's proceedings.
Relatives of the children who died wore T-shirts for the "Parents in Action" organisation, which they started against drug and alcohol abuse.
- SAPA
