Daniel Rowland, accused of murder following a 2021 shooting at Il Camino restaurant in Mulbarton, made his latest appearance at the Booysens Magistrate’s Court on July 29.

The murder trial continued after defence advocate Christo Meiring exposed large-scale negligence in the case regarding the way the crime scene was handled by SAPS in 2021.

Advocate Meiring also made the forensic officer who dealt with the body of the victim in the case admit he had also been negligent in the handling of the victim’s body by signing off on the wrong body of a black female, while the victim was a white female.

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These admissions left the state’s case hanging by a thread as two state witnesses admitted to mishandling the crime scene as well as mishandling key evidence in the case.

During the trial continuation, the state had to argue why its chain of evidence did not correspond with the witness statements, and how the prosecution would proceed with its case against the accused.

Magistrate Habib displayed disappointment in the state’s handling of the case.

However, the state prosecutor explained that because the case had moved between four different prosecutors, paperwork and witness statements had been misplaced, causing major confusion among prosecuting attorneys.

The matter was then remanded to August 11 for a postponement hearing.

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