Police officers not telling truth about how accused were transported, says defence

Defence lawyers in theLusikisiki massacre trialhave accused police officers who are state witnesses of hiding the truth about how two accused men were transported after their arrest, raising questions of a possible cover-up. At the Mthatha High Court sitting in Lusikisiki on Wednesday, attorneys argued that officers were refusing to take responsibility for who transported the accused on October 16 2024. They said the lack of clear answers from officers about who travelled with suspects raised concerns about the integrity of the investigation.

The defence argued that none of the officers could recall travelling with the accused, suggesting they were protecting one another. Sergeant Lulama Falo, of the serious and violent crimes investigations unit’s track and trace team, was accused by Bonga Hintsa’s attorney, Zama Somahela, of refusing to tell the truth about who was in the vehicle he was driving. Somahela put it to Falo that he was the officer driving a bakkie in which the two accused, Hintsa and Aphiwe Ndende, were transported from Mbizana to Lusikisiki after being transferred from Port Shepstone police to Eastern Cape police.

“The reason you do not want to take responsibility is you assaulted the accused,” Somahela said. “The accused were thrown into the bakkie you were driving. Both accused were in your vehicle.” “There were never any accused in the bakkie that was driven by me,” Falo said.

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“It is a lie. The suspects were travelling in vehicles that were driven by the investigators.” Somahela, together with Ndende’s attorney Mawande Nokwali, also accused Falo of insulting and assaulting the accused.

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