Mfundekelwa Mkhulisi
Mfundekelwa Mkhulisi
Many discrepancies that seemed to have occurred in the laboratory's handling of Pretoria high court judge Nkola Motata's blood samples emerged in court yesterday.
The register at the Hillbrow forensic chemistry laboratory in Johannesburg showed that the samples were received in December 2006, while the incident happened in January 2007.
Another astonishing mistake was in the report by former chief forensic analyst Logan Govender, who stated that he received the samples from Parkview police station while the samples were from the Hillbrow police station.
Motata's lawyer, Danie Dorfling, asked Govender why there were two different handwritings and different colours of ink on Motata's entry.
"I don't know," Govender said.
"Parkview" was written in a different handwriting next to "Hillbrow" and a new case number had been superimposed on another number in the same column of the register.
Govender said his reason for saying he had received the blood from the Parkview police station was that he had been guided by the SAP 21 form (police report).
"The SAP 21 form that accompanied the samples was from Parkview and caused the confusion," he said.
Motata is on trial for drunk driving and defeating the ends of justice after an accident in which he allegedly crashed his Jaguar into the wall of a Hurlingham property in January last year.
The forensice analyst also told the court that it was the first time he had received samples with a police report since "we usually get case numbers, not SAP 21 forms".
Dorfling told the court that the form did not have the date on which the samples were taken to the laboratory nor the name or police force number of the policeman who brought them to the laboratory.
The trial continues.
Blood sample MIX-UP
Mfundekelwa Mkhulisi
Mfundekelwa Mkhulisi
Many discrepancies that seemed to have occurred in the laboratory's handling of Pretoria high court judge Nkola Motata's blood samples emerged in court yesterday.
The register at the Hillbrow forensic chemistry laboratory in Johannesburg showed that the samples were received in December 2006, while the incident happened in January 2007.
Another astonishing mistake was in the report by former chief forensic analyst Logan Govender, who stated that he received the samples from Parkview police station while the samples were from the Hillbrow police station.
Motata's lawyer, Danie Dorfling, asked Govender why there were two different handwritings and different colours of ink on Motata's entry.
"I don't know," Govender said.
"Parkview" was written in a different handwriting next to "Hillbrow" and a new case number had been superimposed on another number in the same column of the register.
Govender said his reason for saying he had received the blood from the Parkview police station was that he had been guided by the SAP 21 form (police report).
"The SAP 21 form that accompanied the samples was from Parkview and caused the confusion," he said.
Motata is on trial for drunk driving and defeating the ends of justice after an accident in which he allegedly crashed his Jaguar into the wall of a Hurlingham property in January last year.
The forensice analyst also told the court that it was the first time he had received samples with a police report since "we usually get case numbers, not SAP 21 forms".
Dorfling told the court that the form did not have the date on which the samples were taken to the laboratory nor the name or police force number of the policeman who brought them to the laboratory.
The trial continues.