Sergeant Ashley Tabisher Photo: Independent Newspapers (NO BYLINE)
Cape Town - A former Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) officer and co-accused of alleged underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack has turned to accuse senior police officials of pressuring him into making a warning statement on the day of his arrest.
The statement by former Sergeant Ashley Tabisher has plunged the mammoth underworld trial into a trial-within-a-trial, as he called for the statement not to be entered into evidence by Judge Robert Henney.
According to the State’s case, Tabisher is accused of conspiring with two affiliates of Modack – Amaal Jantjies and Janick Adonis.
While Adonis was in custody for other crimes, the State alleges that Tabisher got into an agreement with Jantjies to provide information on when the elite police unit planned on raiding Modack’s homes.
The indictment states that during 2019, Tabisher was part of a police team that helped escort Adonis to the AGU base in Faure to meet with then commander, Major-General Andre Lincoln.
The State claims at the time, Jantjies and Adonis were in a relationship and Modack and allegedly agreed to fund a High Court application aimed at appealing the bail outcome of Adonis.
It further states that Jantjies allegedly corrupted Tabisher by convincing him to provide the information on the planned raid in exchange for money and a cellphone. While bank records show that Jantjies had received money from the Empire Investments account, it is not yet clear whether Tabisher received any money.
Over the years, he has vehemently denied the State’s claims and even outed Lincoln, saying the AGU commander instructed him to communicate with the couple.
Tabisher who has boldly undertaken to defending himself in the mammoth trial, questioned two senior officers from the National Task Team, outlining events that led up to his incarceration.
He also took to the stand and told Judge Henney that he was arrested on May 2, 2019, at his Elsies River home and despite claims that he was taken to Bellville police station, he was instead taken to 35 Squadron.
He claims that he was asked on several occasions to make a statement and declined until he was put in holding cells and his lawyer notified. Tabisher said that in the presence of his legal representative, the investigative team offered him bail in exchange for completing the statement. But he said as he left the holding cells, he was informed that the State would be opposing his bail application.
State advocate Greg Wolmarans ripped into Tabisher’s claim, saying that aspect was not brought into his bail applications and he accused him of “cooking up” the story.
“The document speaks for itself. There was no promise. You made it up. You cooked it up,” Wolmarans said.
But an angry Tabisher told the court he was not lying and said as he was not taken directly to the police station after his arrest, there was proof that cops had tried to put pressure on him.
After listening to all the testimonies, Judge Henney ruled that the statement would be considered admissible for the trial and said he would give reasons later. The statement is set to be read out today.
mahira.duval@inl.co.za
Cape Argus
Related Topics:
