Brother’s day of misery in dock

Durban - The brother of murdered Merebank woman, Charmaine Naidoo, who backtracked on his evidence against her alleged killers, was the picture of misery in court on Friday – weeping, pleading for cigarette breaks and denying he had been intimidated into changing his tune.

Asked why he decided to change his evidence, a year after testifying for the State, Junaid Narasiah said it was because of his recent incarceration at Westville Prison on a separate matter.

He told the Durban High Court he had realised how difficult life in jail was and what the person he had sent there was going through.

Naidoo’s husband, Inderesan “Alvin” Maistry, and two others stand accused of killing Naidoo.

Narasiah told Acting Judge Burt Laing he had pointed out the wrong person in an identity parade and that the real perpetrator was “still out there”.

“It was eating me up inside,” he testified.

Narasiah said on Friday that he had been detained in the awaiting trial prisoner section at Westville Prison since January 8. He has been charged with business robbery.

Maistry and his co-accused, Mandlenkosi Jobe and Bongani Manyathi, were also being held in this section.

While Narasiah denied he had been influenced or pressured into changing his evidence, his girlfriend said otherwise.

Crystal Naidoo testified soon afterwards that Narasiah had complained to her that Maistry was putting him under pressure while in prison to testify on his behalf.

During his earlier testimony, Narasiah had identified Manyathi as one of the robbers in an identity parade and also in court when he had testified during the trial.

Naidoo was murdered in February 2014 after she had been abducted at gunpoint from her home in whatinitially appeared to be a robbery. Her body was later found in uMbumbulu.She had been strangled and stabbed.

On Friday, Manyathi’s attorney, Shahin Azmuth, told Laing new evidence had come to light and had called Narasiah to the witness stand.

On Thursday, judgment had been expected when Azmuth told the court of her intention to call a State witness. Laing said he had received notification of this on Tuesday.

However, when Narasiah testified on Friday, he said he only indicated this intention to a prison warder on Wednesday and informed his attorney on Thursday.

Testifying for the defence, Narasiah said on the day of the identity parade he did not know who the accused was but a police officer had pointed out who the robber was.

State advocate, Nadira Moosa, asked Narasiah, who had been emotional throughout his testimony, why he was crying.

He said being in court reminded him of the day of the robbery.

Laing asked him the same question and he said he was reminded of the life he had had when his sister was alive and how different it was now. “If my sister didn’t die. I wouldn’t be standing here and going through what am I now,” he said.

The court had to take several breaks for Narasiah to compose himself.

During this time, he continued to cry and asked to speak to his attorney. When he was told he was not allowed to while testifying, he asked if he could go down to the holding cells where the accused were kept. This was also not allowed.

His father, in the gallery, then shouted: “Don’t let these skaapies (sheep) scare you.”

Denied a cigarette, he dropped to the floor in the dock and continued to cry, begging for a cigarette and had to be calmed by Azmuth.

Narasiah said his first and only contact with Maistry had been on the Monday when Maistry showed him how to telephone his girlfriend from prison.

Judgment was now expected in April.