Patel trial commences in city

The trial of Rameez Patel, accused of the murder of his wife Fatima who was found dead at the couple’s apartment in April 2015, commenced in the Polokwane High Court on Monday.
According to Patel, his wife was killed by robbers who broke into the complex where they lived.
On Monday morning the court adjourned for an in loco inspection of the complex in Dubai Street, Nirvana.
Upon return to court Judge Joseph Raulinga gave a detailed description of what was found especially with regard to safety aspects at the complex, the location of the flat occupied by the Patel couple at the time in relation to the other five units in the complex, the height of the walls and gates other and entrances to the complex.
Patel’s brother Razeem was called to the witness box to testify. He testified that gates were remote-controlled but the box was open and someone could have opened the gate by sticking his arm through the gate and operating the gate manually. He also said the electrical fence above the perimeter wall was not active. He gave a detailed description of what happened on the day of the incident when he and Rameez Patel arrived at the complex. He referred to a pile of bricks inside the complex adjacent to the wall and scaffolding at the outside of the eastern wall where a double-storey house was under construction and an opening at a corner of the complex where a telephone pole was situated.
He testified that a person had once broken into a car inside the complex before the murder took place.
State prosecutor Mashudu Mudau asked him about the car he was driving as well as the vehicle Rameez drove at the time and what was missing from flat after the incident.
According to Mudau the incident happened before 16:30 on the day of the murder.
The owner of the complex, Abdul Sattar Ahmed was called to the witness box on Tuesday. He confirmed that one set of keys was given to each family occupying the flats in the complex. He testified that the electrical fence was working at the time of the incident and that he would have known if the electric fence was not working as it is connected to an alarm, connected to himself and a speaker in the complex. The alarm goes off should one of the wires become dysfunctional or disconnected and makes a huge noise. Residents in the complex would have phoned him due to the irritating noise. He testified that a technician is sent out should there be any problem. He also said the contractors have asked him to de-actify the fence because of the workers on the scaffolding activating it from time to time when working there but he refused, thinking of the safety of the residents.
The next witness on the stand was an expert on information technology and CCTV cameras, Sayed Ahmed, who testified that he had to retrieve CCTV footage for the Police from a camera that picked up both the gates of the complex. He testified about a car entering at 14:30 and a further three vehicles at 15:00.
Defense lawyer Tumi Mokoena objected, saying visual footage had shown other pedestrians entering the premises and that there were breaks in the footage and times not accounted for.
Time has been set aside until tomorrow (Friday) for the trial and it continues.

Story: NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com

Featured photos: Rameez Patel. Insert: The late Fatima Patel.