The man arrested in connection with the theft of 15 computers at the office of the chief justice in Midrand was taken out of prison, interrogated and “slapped around”, the Randburg Magistrate’s Court heard.
Nkosinathi Msimango appeared in court yesterday facing charges of housebreaking with intent to steal and theft.
His lawyer, Marchand Killian, told the court Msimango was taken out of prison at 9pm on Friday and brought back at 1am.
“My client handed himself over. Despite that he was chained,” Killian said. “That is unacceptable. His rights are infringed. He was taken out of jail to Nasrec. He was slapped around and interrogated.”
The state asked that the case be postponed to verify Msimango’s address, the value of the stolen items and to check whether he had previous convictions. Killian, however, opposed the postponement of his client’s bail application.
He said the state did not have any evidence against Msimango and that they wanted to keep him in prison while they investigated his case. The court postponed the case until Friday for a formal bail application.