Video expert under fire in Jub Jub trial

2012-05-30 19:17

Johannesburg - A video expert came under fire on Wednesday in the murder trial of Molemo "Jub Jub" Maarohanye and his co-accused Themba Tshabalala in the Protea Magistrate's Court.

"What best can be expected from you, how are we going to trust what you are going to say?" prosecutor Raymond Mathenjwa asked the expert, Riana Smalberger.

She had told the court that she found 13 video clips on a cellphone; ten of them were deleted and two were still on the phone.

Mathenjwa wanted to know what happened to the other video and Smalberger replied that she made a mistake, and that there were only 12 videos found.

"You are an expert. What best can be expected from you?" said Mathenjwa.

"Sir, I made a mistake. It is not like you have never made a mistake," said Smalberger.

Smalberger was expected to give evidence on whether the cellphone video footage presented by the State earlier in the trial had been tampered with.

She told the court that she only started working on the video on Tuesday, when her brief was to download the video. That was why she had not made any analysis.

Mathenjwa accused her of being in possession of private information not relevant to the trial.

He said she was supposed to analyse the two video clips and was not supposed to retrieve deleted information from the phone.

Maarohanye and Tshabalala face charges of murder, attempted murder, and driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

They were allegedly racing their Mini Coopers when they crashed into a group of school children in Mdlalose Street, in Protea North, on March 8, 2010. Four boys died and two were seriously injured.

The matter was postponed to 4 June.

- SAPA