A prominent East London attorney has pulled out of a case involving the thefts of three newly imported Mercedes-Benz cars from the harbour – due to a cellphone record.
The lawyer, Elias Makhanya, told the East London Regional Court yesterday he was recusing himself from defending one of the accused in the matter because he came across his own cellphone records in the police docket.
This presented him with a conflict of interests, Makhanya told Regional Court 2 magistrate Ignatius Kitching who is hearing the case of the May 2016 thefts.
The cellphone data was extracted by East London detectives soon after they arrested the accused, Mpangazitha Nombembe, with one of the stolen luxury vehicles in Butterworth last year.
The Dispatch understands Mpangazitha had contacted Makhanya as the net was closing in on him.
Makhanya told the magistrate he was not going to divulge to the court what information was contained in the docket because it presented an ethical challenge.
“My cellphone number was in the copy of the docket my learned colleague gave me two weeks ago.
“This led me to consult further with my client, who is accused number 5.
“It has led to an ethical problem that I cannot represent him. I am not going to disclose that information before the court. I saw what I saw.
“I have advised my learned colleague about the implication of that and what that means. He knows it. That is the sole reason why I am not ready to proceed with the trial,” Makhanya said.
He then asked for the matter to be postponed to July 25 for Nombembe to appoint another attorney.
Nombembe told the magistrate it would take him up to two weeks to find an attorney.
Nombembe was joined in the dock by four other co-accused – Menzi Similane, Vusumzi Khuzwayo (both of KwaZulu-Natal), and Vuyelwa Cakatha and Zwelabantu Mankahla.
It is the state’s case that the five accused, acting with common purpose, posed as employees of CAT-WWL Logistics and stole the vehicles worth an estimated R4-million.
CAT-WWL Logistics is contracted by Mercedes-Benz SA to drive the vehicles from the port to customers.
Only Cakatha worked at CAT-WWL as a technician.
The theft from the car terminal on the West Bank side of the harbour occurred not long after a cargo ship carrying dozens of Mercedes-Benz vehicles from Germany docked.
The stolen cars were a E-400 coupe which was recovered in Mthatha, a C220d coupe which was recovered in Umlazi in KZN and a C-Class coupe recovered in Butterworth. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
Lawyer pulls out of Merc theft case after discovering his cellphone records contained inside police docket
The lawyer, Elias Makhanya, told the East London Regional Court yesterday he was recusing himself from defending one of the accused in the matter because he came across his own cellphone records in the police docket.
This presented him with a conflict of interests, Makhanya told Regional Court 2 magistrate Ignatius Kitching who is hearing the case of the May 2016 thefts.
The cellphone data was extracted by East London detectives soon after they arrested the accused, Mpangazitha Nombembe, with one of the stolen luxury vehicles in Butterworth last year.
The Dispatch understands Mpangazitha had contacted Makhanya as the net was closing in on him.
Makhanya told the magistrate he was not going to divulge to the court what information was contained in the docket because it presented an ethical challenge.
“My cellphone number was in the copy of the docket my learned colleague gave me two weeks ago.
“This led me to consult further with my client, who is accused number 5.
“It has led to an ethical problem that I cannot represent him. I am not going to disclose that information before the court. I saw what I saw.
“I have advised my learned colleague about the implication of that and what that means. He knows it. That is the sole reason why I am not ready to proceed with the trial,” Makhanya said.
He then asked for the matter to be postponed to July 25 for Nombembe to appoint another attorney.
Nombembe told the magistrate it would take him up to two weeks to find an attorney.
Nombembe was joined in the dock by four other co-accused – Menzi Similane, Vusumzi Khuzwayo (both of KwaZulu-Natal), and Vuyelwa Cakatha and Zwelabantu Mankahla.
It is the state’s case that the five accused, acting with common purpose, posed as employees of CAT-WWL Logistics and stole the vehicles worth an estimated R4-million.
CAT-WWL Logistics is contracted by Mercedes-Benz SA to drive the vehicles from the port to customers.
Only Cakatha worked at CAT-WWL as a technician.
The theft from the car terminal on the West Bank side of the harbour occurred not long after a cargo ship carrying dozens of Mercedes-Benz vehicles from Germany docked.
The stolen cars were a E-400 coupe which was recovered in Mthatha, a C220d coupe which was recovered in Umlazi in KZN and a C-Class coupe recovered in Butterworth. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
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