Daily Archives: March 17, 2014

Cop quizzed on residue test


Pretoria – A primer residue test conducted on murder accused Paralympian Oscar Pistorius’s hands and arms was described in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday.
Warrant Officer Barend van Staden, during cross-examination by Advocate Barry Roux for Pistorius, explained how he did the so-called PR test on the athlete.

The test is done to determine if someone has fired a gun.

Pistorius is accused of the premeditated murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home on 14 February last year.

He shot and killed her through the closed door of his toilet, apparently believing she was an intruder.

Van Staden, who was standing in the witness box, pecked at his arm and hand with his index finger, and explained how he used a piece of special sticky paper to lift possible traces of residue from Pistorius’s hands.

Because Van Staden had learnt that Pistorius had washed his hands, he did the residue test on both his arms as well.

Roux wanted to know exactly how Van Staden did this.

“So you go around the whole arm up to the elbow, and then?”

He asked how long the test took.

“Seconds,” Van Staden replied, speaking clearly and confidently in Afrikaans.

Oscar’s emotional state

Roux asked Van Staden to describe Pistorius’s emotional state as he found him in the garage of his house, where he did the residue test and took photos of him.

“Very quiet and emotional,” he said.

Roux asked him to explain what he meant by emotional.

“Tearful,” he replied.

Court was adjourned until 09:30 on Tuesday.

Van Staden is attached to the photography section of the Local Criminal Record Centre. He had been with the centre for 12 years, and in the police for 21.

In addition to the murder charge, Pistorius is charged with contravening of the Firearms Control Act. He allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013.

On 30 September 2012 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.

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Eleven orphans receives a decent house to ease their burden


Matlosana-A family of eleven orphans in Khuma extension 6 was amongst the households’ beneficiaries who received houses during the recent handing over ceremony in the Matlosana Local Municipality.

Handing over the keys to the orphans, North West MEC for Human Settlements, Public Safety and Liaison, Nono Maloyi encouraged them to take a good care of the house and not fight over it.

“You should know that this house was built by government and it doesn’t mean that since you did not pay for it you must then smash it, a lot has been spent from taxpayers’ money. One other critical thing is that, this house belongs to all of you but one of you could apply on your behalf, therefore you all have equal rights to the house,” said Maloyi.

The 25-year-old Yolisa Jija who applied for the house, said their parents died in 2012. She said they were then forced to share a one room shack with their parents. “We used to live in a one roomed shack with our parents before they died. My siblings have kids now and twenty people were forced to share the small space. I am very happy for what government has done for us. Life has been tough as we are unemployed and survives on child support grant and this house will now ease our burden,” said the delighted Jija. 

Gogo Anna Naanyane who stays with her three daughters and two orphans of her late daughter also received a house. One of her dependants is mentally disturbed and they survive on old age and foster care grants.

”I used to stay in a shack which damaged my belongings when it rains, since my house was built I have been thanking God every day, and I would like to thank the Provincial Governemt for this good initiative,” said gogo Naanyane.

Since the beginning of February, MEC Maloyi has been handing over houses to their rightful beneficiaries. Over 8 000 houses are anticipated to be handed over at the end of the project which will be completed the end of March.-TDN
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MEC MALOYI TO HAND OVER 250 HOUSES IN GREATER TAUNG


Taung-MEC for Human Settlements Public Safety and Liaison Nono Maloyi will on Tuesday hand over about 250 houses to the Taung families in the greater Taung local municipality.

The Houses are part of the 8000 houses that are expected to be handed over between February and March 2014.

“The benefiting families are mostly those that have been staying in mud houses while others are those who lost their houses due to floods in the area. The benefiting families are from villages such as Manthe, Tlapeng and Tsokonyane respectively” departmental spokesperson Ben Bole said.

The department has prioritized families headed by the elderly, child and people living with disability. The Taung villages were previously hit by heavy floods where lifes were lost and thousands of rands lost due to property damages.

“The handover is part of celebrating twenty years (20yrs) of freedom, and also in line with the Outcome 8 of the National Development Plan vision 2030 which is intended to improve the quality of people’s lives and bring back dignity to the marginalised communities across the province” Bole said.

The hand over programme is also part of the department’s service delivery initiative and reduction of housing backlog in the province.

The handover will take place as follows:

Date: 18 March 2014

Time: 14H00

Venue: Tlapeng tribal authority
-TDN
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Premier Modise urges parties to recommit themselves to end strike


Marikana-Parties involved in the platinum mining sector wage dispute should intensify efforts to find a win-win solution to bring the protracted strike to end, North West Premier Thandi Modise appealed on Monday.

“There is a need for parties to renew their commitment to end the strike which has entered its eighth week as it is impacting negatively on our economy and putting a strain on relations between striking miners and our communities,” Premier Modise said.

Modise has expressed concern regarding continued acts of violence and intimidation of non-striking workers and called on striking workers to respect public and private properties and the freedom of movement of other citizens and those who wanted to go to work.-TDN
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Pistorius trial enters week three


Johannesburg – Monday will see day 11 unfold in the murder trial of Paralympian Oscar Pistorius in the North Gauteng High Court.

On Friday, a former police officer admitted to the court that evidence was mishandled on the scene where the paralympian shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Giliam van Rensburg said he was dismayed to see a colleague pick up the handgun found on Pistorius’s bloodied bathroom floor without protective gloves.

“So I asked him ‘what are you doing?’ ” said Van Rensburg, adding that at this the ballistics expert looked down and realised he was bare-handed.

“And then he said ‘Sorry’,” said Van Rensburg, a now retired station commander who was the first policeman to arrive at Pistorius’s home after he shot Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year.

The admission came as Van Rensburg was answering questions from prosecutor Gerrie Nel, testifying notably that there was no sign of forced entry into the disabled track star’s home.

Pistorius has pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder, claiming that he believed there was an intruder hiding in a locked toilet cubicle in his home when he fired four shots into it, fatally wounding Steenkamp.
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