A decorated member of the Gqeberha Flying Squad, Warrant Officer Severiano Blundin, will have to wait a while longer to find out if the charges against him will be dropped.
The charges against Blundin stem from a R1.2 m civil matter against police minister Bheki Cele, where he is accused of the kidnapping, unlawful arrest, and assault of Alvado Francis, Sherwin Eckhardt, and Keanu Arends in March 2019.
Francis and Eckhard claim they were taken to the parking lot of the Algoa Park police station under the pretense that the Gang Unit wanted to question them.
Francis alleges that this is one of the places where Blundin assaulted him.
On Thursday, Defence Advocate Jason Thysse presented an argument in support of a 174 Application for his client's discharge.
By law, an accused is allowed to bring a Section 174 application at the close of the state's case, when they are of the view that there is no evidence on which the court may come to a guilty verdict.
In stating his case in support of the application, Thysse said the burden of proof rested on the state to prove their case against his client.
Thysse submitted that the state failed to provide any concrete evidence to substantiate the charges against the accused, and added that the court should decide whether it will allow a "hopeless case" to continue.
Regarding the kidnapping charges, Thysse said there was no evidence presented in respect of Arends, which meant that the charge could automatically not be proven.
In respect of the alleged kidnapping of Eckhardt and Francis, Thysse said it "escaped" him how the state could allege that they were forced into a police vehicle.
"What compounds the State's lack of evidence is the fact that they claimed to have been kidnapped, but they were driven to the Algoa Park Police Station.
"They got into the accused' marked police vehicle on their own."
With regards to the allegation of assault at the Algoa Park Police Station, Thysse said that based on the State's evidence, it had come to light that Francis had allegedly threatened Blundin.
On Francis' version, Blundin grabbed hold of him when he made a run for it in the direction of the front steps of the police station.
Thysse said he could not fathom how people who claim to have been kidnapped were just sitting in the police vehicle in front of the police station and how his client could have kidnapped all three on his own.
"The crux of the State's case rests on the evidence of Eckhardt and Francis.
"Both of their credibility should strongly be questioned."
Addressing the claim that Francis had sustained injuries, Thysse asked: "What injuries?"
He emphasized that there was no evidence before the court about any injuries.
Before the application, Thysse foiled a last-ditch attempt by the State to reopen their case, to submit medical evidence in respect of the injuries sustained by Francis.
The State failed to submit the evidence, which on their own admission was material to their case in respect of the torture and assault charges.
Thysse said the State had ample opportunities to do so, and that presenting it as evidence at this stage of the game would prejudice the accused.
The court agreed, and the evidence was disallowed.
Judgment on the 174 application will be delivered on 14 March.
