Cape Town - The investigating officer who worked on the matter of accused Abdur-Rahiem Israel testified in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday.
Israel has been charged with 22 counts of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and charges related to gangsterism.
He is accused of killing Jacobus Pietersen and Shahied Sallie on two different occasions. The State alleged that Israel was involved in a pattern of criminal gang activity between December 7, 2015 and October 14, 2018 and adopted tattoos which associated him with a gang.
The detective said that Israel was re-arrested for the murder of Pietersen after charges for robbery were withdrawn at the Mitchells Plain Magistrate Court. He further testified that the crimes Israel allegedly committed, predominantly took place in a gang stronghold in Rocklands.
The detective noted that the crimes committed must have been under the instruction of a leader because if executed out of his own will, Israel would have been killed.
Judge Elizabeth Baartman took issue with the detective after he told the court that a key witness who saw Israel allegedly shoot at Pietersen could not be found. The detective said that according to family members, the witness feared for his safety. Judge Baartman said this response was “unsatisfactory” because that choice is with the witness, not his family.
According to Israel, he was assaulted in prison because he was trying to remove tattoos which allegedly tied him to gang membership.
Advocate Nawaal Abdurahman said that Israel only joined the gang when he was in prison and did not belong to a gang before then. Israel further took issue with the fact that he was the only one on trial and had been in custody since 2018.
“Everything is being blamed on the accused before court due to him being associated with these gang members and you have decided to put all the allegations only on the accused before court to keep him out of the Rocklands area; you haven’t prosecuted other members also implicated in these cases,” Abdurahman said.
The detective shot back and said: “The accusations, even though there were suspects mentioned, they mentioned the accused as being the aggressor, the accused as being the one who committed the crime, that is why he is before court, not because we want him out of the Rocklands area. It is because he committed those crimes based on the evidence.”
The matter will proceed on Monday, March 14 when the State intends to conclude its case against Israel.