The identity parade where three witnesses fingered Sizwe Gwala as the man responsible for shooting to death three people and injuring two others in Emndeni was flawed and compromised.
This was the admission of Captain Khawulezile Delihlazo at the Johannesburg High Court yesterday.
On Monday, the court heard how a high-speed chase in Freedom Park in May last year led to Gwala’s arrest as he was caught driving a stolen car.
On July 24, three State witnesses pointed him out during an ID parade as the man who shot and killed Jabulile Vilakazi, Albert Khumalo and Mbuyiseni Khanyile, and wounded Jeffrey Mkhwanazi and Bhekazana Tshabalala during a shooting spree in Emndeni in February.
Yesterday, however, faults involving the way the parade was conducted were exposed during defence lawyer Lucky Dikolomela’s cross-examination of Delihlazo, who had conducted the parade.
The first of these was that Delihlazo had pointed out to witnesses before the parade that the man arrested for the Emndeni killings was one of the eight people in the line-up.
Judge Halima Saldulker then asked: “Is it not compromising the ID parade if you tell witnesses that the suspect is already in the line-up?”
“Yes,” Delihlazo answered
“Whether they know who the suspect is or not, they would then have to point someone out because they’ve been told he’s there – is that the right way to do these parades?” the judge added.
“No, your worship,” Delihlazo said, clearing his throat.
The second “mistake” Delihlazo admitted to was recording the wrong position of the suspects while carrying placard numbers in a form he filled out.
On being questioned by Dikolomela, he agreed that many mistakes were made.