DNA test on getaway vehicle after Bloem businessman’s murder ‘inconclusive’
Louis Siemens was shot and killed on May 10 last year in the basement parking area of a shopping centre in Bloemfontein.
Picture: iStock
DNA tests conducted on evidence found inside the alleged getaway car in the murder of Bloemfontein businessman Louis Siemens were inconclusive.
Testifying in the Bloemfontein High Court, Sello Isaac Nape, a member of the police’s Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC), said he could not elaborate on the reasons behind the results because he was not the official who carried out the tests, but merely collected the evidence for testing.
Siemens was shot and killed on May 10 last year in the basement parking area of a shopping centre.
It is alleged he was paying bribes to government officials through another businessman, Stanley Bakili, to have CityMed’s licence amended to allow for more beds, when the business partnership soured.
So far in the four-week trial, Free State health MEC Benny Malakoane, former health minister Aaron Motsoaledi, current head of the provincial health department David Motau and a member of the provincial department’s licensing committee, Charity “Pinky” Belot, have all testified they did not receive any bribes from Bakili or Siemens.
Nape took pictures not only of the crime scene but also at Bakili’s townhouse in Lilyvale on the day Siemens was killed.
The LCRC official also recovered a pair of blue overall trousers from one of the couches at Bakili’s home.
The overall is vital to the state’s evidence, as a former waiter working at an eatery in the centre, Ohuliseng Selemela, testified earlier that accused number four, Mojalefa “Jali” Molusi, was wearing a blue overall jacket on the day of the murder.
Molusi’s legal counsel revealed the overall pants tested negative for gun powder residue, a fact Nape verified.
Nape also managed to lift about nine sets of fingerprints from the “getaway” car which were tested by his supervisor, Molefe Chomane. Three of the fingerprints recovered belonged to alleged mastermind Bakili, Molusi and self-confessed assassin Xolisile “Botha” Mbebetho.
Bakili’s counsel, Masilo Koenane, said his client had experienced mechanical problems at the time of the murder and requested that accused number three, Kagiso Chabane, rent the car for him. Koenane says it is therefore not surprising that Bakili’s fingerprints were found on the car.
The eight accused include three police officers, a disbarred advocate and an accused in separate double murder cases.
– OFM News
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
