Top cop murder riddle

Provincial investigating unit commander Colonel Abednego Shibiri said the cause of death would be known only when toxicology and histology reports were released.

   

"We can get the histology reports anytime from now, but the toxicology reports do take time. We have requested the department of health to expedite the process," said Shibiri.

   

"Normally those reports can take four to five years," he said.

   

The health department has said the toxicology reports should be available in the first quarter of 2014, he said.

   

Shibiri said indications so far were that Maswanganyi was strangled.

   

The senior policeman was opposing a bail application brought by Maswanganyi's alleged killers Nditsheni Daniel Nefolovhodwe, Ndaedzo Isaac Vele, Tshepo Mosai and Roger Godfrey Moseki.

   

Shibiri said property stolen from Maswanganyi, including cellphones and a computer tablet, had not been recovered.

   

He said the police had yet to arrest other suspects related to the crime, and that if released on bail, the four would jeopardise the ongoing investigations.

   

During a previous appearance last month, the court heard that one of the men had asked a sangoma "to make his case go away".

 

Shibiri said Nefolovhodwe had sought the services of a sangoma prior to his arrest on June 25.

   

The court also heard that Vele did not have money and would not abscond if released on bail.

   

Maswanganyi was found dead in a field near the R101, near Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, in June.

   

His hands and feet were bound. A police patrol found Maswanganyi's abandoned Isuzu bakkie next to the road.

   

A police uniform and police identification card were in the bakkie, which prompted a search.

   

Three of the four accused, including Vele and Nefolovhodwe, were members of the SA National Defence Force.

   

-Sapa