Cape Town - ANC heavyweight Tony Yengeni’s legal team put the testimony of two metro police officers under the microscope in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday, hinting at a possible conspiracy against the politician following his arrest on drunk driving charges.
The two metro police officers, constables Kurt Buckton and Bradley Adams, testified how they were called to the scene to assist the arresting officer, another metro police sergeant, who had claimed that Yengeni had acted in a “rather riotous” manner.
Buckton testified that Yengeni reeked of alcohol, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was unsteady on his feet.
Adams noticed two of the signs that indicate possible intoxication, but said Yengeni was not unsteady on his feet.
Yengeni’s advocate Dirk Uys intimated that Adams’ testimony could mean Yengeni was possibly not intoxicated.
But Adams said in his experience some people could be standing upright and still have a blood alcohol level above the legal limit.
The fact that both men were asked to submit supplementary statements to the SA Police Service investigating officer assigned to the case almost 10 months after the incident also raised suspicion, with Uys asking both men if they were telling the truth, or if they had been pressured to lie about what they observed on the night in question.
Both constables denied they had been untruthful, or that they had been pressured to make false statements regarding Yengeni’s arrest.
Buckton had told the court he had administered a breathalyser test which showed a reading of 0.69 per 1,000ml. This was higher than the legal limit of 0,24 mg per 1 000ml.
After his arrest in Green Point, Yengeni was taken to the Cape Town police station where the officers registered a drunk driving case before transporting him to Athlone where a blood alcohol test was performed.
Asked whether Yengeni said anything to him in the vehicle, Buckton replied: “Mr Yengeni stated that if this happened in Joburg he would not have been arrested and this was not what he fought for in the past.”
The case was handed to the South African Police Service to pursue.
Earlier on Friday, Yengeni, dressed in a beige suit, stood in the dock listening intently as the two charges of drunk driving and reckless driving, and alternative counts of “inconsiderate driving” and having “an excessive amount of alcohol in his blood” was put to him by the magistrate.
Yengeni told the court he understood the charges and wished to plead not guilty.
Uys said Yengeni would not immediately disclose the nature of his defence, but indicated: “The blood sample taken from the accused, we will allege was taken in contravention on his constitutional rights to privacy.”
The trial continues on December 11.
Yengeni was arrested in August 2013 after law enforcement officers noticed him driving his luxury sports car erratically in the Cape Town CBD.
The ANC National Executive Committee member was also arrested for drunk driving in 2007, but was found not guilty in the ensuing trial after it transpired that his blood samples had been tampered with.
African News Agency