OUR RIGHTS DENIED – SUSPECTS

MBABANE – Simanga Sigwili Vilakati and Thandokuhle Dlamini have alleged that they were denied an opportunity to see their relatives and lawyer after being arrested.

Addressing the court through their lawyer, Maxwell Nkambule, the duo submitted that police officers detained them for seven days at Sigodvweni Police Station, which was against the dictates of the Constitution. While at the police station, the accused persons claimed, they were denied the opportunity to see their relatives and legal representatives. Nkambule alleged that his clients were heavily assaulted during the course of their  interrogation. He also alleged that at one point, a police officer removed one of the accused persons from the cell and assaulted him. “My client has instructed me that a police officer asked him why he was killing police officers during the heat of the assault,” the lawyer informed the court.

Visit

Nkambule stated that his clients had instructed him that two lawyers, who had paid them a visit, were allegedly turned back at the police station. He submitted that his clients had informed him that the police officers told the attorneys that they were busy with them when they had gone to see them in custody. However, in response to the allegations made by the defence, Advocate Naomi Manaka informed the court that information from the police was to the effect that the two were never assaulted.  Advocate Manaka denied that the duo was denied an opportunity to see any lawyer after their arrest. Instead, she informed the court that two lawyers visited the accused in custody. On the issue of the seven days detention as alleged by Nkambule, Manaka told the court that as far as the Crown was concerned, the accused persons were arrested on June 22, 2022. She said Dlamini and Vilakati were visited by two lawyers on June 23, 2022. She further stated that they were taken for an identification parade on June 25, 2022, before being produced in court on June 27, 2022.

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