current fingerprint case in South Africa

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Racist cops framed me – murder accused

June 30 2011 at 09:05am
By ZELDA VENTER


An Alexandra man says he has been framed for the murder of a Meyerspark businessman by the “white police” who investigated the crime, as he is black and the victim white.

Marabe Talane, 34, on Wednesday told the Pretoria High Court the police made him “plant” his fingerprint in the house where Dawie Maree was shot dead on May 23, 2008.

Police took him to the house after his arrest and “made him lean” against the window sill where his print was found. He said he had never been to the house before.

But Warrant Officer Gawie Janse van Rensburg, a fingerprint expert, was adamant that he had lifted this print from the crime scene on the day of the killing.

Talane was only arrested a few days later.

Talane and his co-accused, Rodney Masemola, 31, of Mamelodi East, pleaded not guilty to killing Maree.

The victim’s wife, Elana Maree (now Van Breda) earlier testified in tears how she prayed while her husband – who was heavily wounded – pinned down one of the robbers on the bed to protect his family.

The couple woke up with an armed man bending over them.

Maree tried to get hold of his firearm that was under the mattress. The two men struggled for the firearm when Maree jumped up.

Meanwhile his wife was lying on the ground covering their two small children, who slept next to them at the time, with her body.

She saw her husband and the robber struggling and heard shots.

Her husband was pinning the robber down on the bed and she saw that he (her husband) was wounded. “Blood was coming out of his mouth and there was blood on the sheets.”

Another armed man appeared in the bedroom.

Maree noticed the firearm of the robber her husband was struggling with, on the floor. She got hold of it and aimed it at him, telling him not to move.

The man on the bed was making moaning noises and it appeared he was dead as he was shot during the struggle. The other robber fled.

“My husband asked me to phone the police and an ambulance. He also asked me to pray for him.”

Maree died in hospital soon afterward.

Counsel for the two accused, Paul Shapiro, on Wednesday grilled the fingerprint expert the whole morning about the authenticity of the print found on the window sill.

He said he had studied the prints, and several points on the print lifted from the scene and that taken of the accused did not match.

Janse van Rensburg said he had 20 years’ experience in this field. There was no doubt in his mind that this print matched that of Talane.

It also emerged that the window sill “against which Talane was made to lean” was between 30cm and 40cm from the ground.

Shapiro this week complained bitterly about the widow sitting crying in the court during proceedings.

This was “highly detrimental” to the case of his clients, he said, suggesting that it was a calculated move on her side to “influence” the court, as the judge “is only human.”

Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela said he did not appreciate Shapiro’s sentiments that he (the judge) would be influenced by tears. The judge noted that the widow had a full right to sit in court, as she had an interest in the case.

Shapiro earlier also told the widow during cross-examination that the accused denied that he had shot Maree. He suggested the widow had shot her own husband.

A pathologist testified that Maree had three bullet wounds to his right leg. The shot that caused his death, went through his back and penetrated his chest.

(Proceeding) – Pretoria News

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/ ... -1.1091145