A series of blunders by the police and prosecutors in the murder investigation and trial of UK businessman Shrien Dewani has tarnished the justice system, according to criminal law expert William Booth.
He said it was beginning to look as if Dewani, who is accused of orchestrating his wife Anni's murder, might walk free.
Booth was speaking yesterday after Western Cape Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso, presiding in the Dewani trial in the Cape Town High Court, lashed out at the prosecution for its tardiness in getting witnesses and evidence ready for court.
Traverso was livid when prosecutor Adrian Mopp asked for an adjournment until tomorrow because a cellphone expert who was scheduled to testify would no longer take the stand and the following witness was not available.
Mopp said the cellphone expert would not be called to testify because the prosecution had agreed with Dewani's counsel that the cellphone evidence was not in dispute.
Traverso said that the state had had four years in which to prepare for the trial.
"You see, Mr Mopp, it is very disturbing that on the 20th day of the trial the state is still scurrying around for a witness," said Traverso.
"I must express my great displeasure with the way this case is going. This case has cost the state a lot of money. When is it going to end?"
Traverso reminded Mopp that the state's ballistics expert, Pieter Engelbrecht, had not completed his investigation until after the trial had begun.
Engelbrecht has conceded that he had made several errors in his tests. Booth said this was an indictment of the police and the prosecution services.
"There has been such a mess with the investigation, and there has also been so much poor evidence presented by the state, that Dewani might be acquitted," said Booth.
"This puts the criminal justice system in a bad light.
"The question being asked is whether things were done efficiently and professionally."
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