Ater five years in jail for killing her husband, Philisiwe Dlamini believed proving her innocence would secure her freedom.
|||Durban - A teacher who has served five years in prison for a murder she denies committing, and who has unearthed supporting evidence for her claim, will have to wait a few more days to see if her bid for freedom has succeeded.
Philisiwe Dlamini, 42, was arrested for the murder of her husband, Thamisanqa Gumede, in January 2008, and has been in prison since, having been denied bail during the year-long trial.
On Tuesday Dlamini, who has reverted to her maiden name, applied for bail at the Eshowe Regional Court, where she had been convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.
Dlamini had taught senior grades at Amaphuthu Secondary School in Nkandla and had protested her innocence from the start. From her Westville Prison cell continued to collect evidence she believed would prove her case.
She unearthed a ballistics report that was never presented to the court during her trial.
The report from the Forensic Science Laboratory in Pretoria shows that primer residue, which determines who fired a gun, was found on her late husband’s right hand.
Dlamini’s hands were also tested, and both were found to be negative (that is, without residue).
She believes that this proves her claim that her husband committed suicide.
She has already been granted leave to present the new evidence in court, in effect having her case reheard, on the basis that another court might reach a different conclusion after seeing the reports.
On Tuesday Dlamini’s legal representative, Professor Lindo Mdletshe, asked the Eshowe court to release Dlamini on bail until the new hearing, “because there is evidence she is innocent, why should we allow her to be kept in jail?”
The State did not oppose bail. The prosecutor told the court about the findings of the forensic report. She was satisfied that Dlamini met the requirements for bail, she added.
The short hearing on Tuesday was taken up by legal arguments between the lawyer and the magistrate about court procedure, particularly about which section of the Criminal Procedure Act guided the hearing.
Magistrate ME Xolo, who had originally convicted and sentenced Dlamini, is also hearing the bail application. He said he would deliver his verdict on Friday.
The complications surrounding the granting of bail seem to arise from the fact there are two legal processes: the bail application and the application to have a retrial, although the latter will happen in a higher court.
The Justice for Prisoners and Detainees Trust, a prisoners’ advocacy group, has been assisting Dlamini.
Daily News