'Police threatened to kill me'‚ chief justice computer theft suspect tells court

The man arrested in connection with the theft of computers at the Chief Justice's office says the police told his family that he should skip the country or they would kill him if they found him.

Nkosinathi Msimango‚ 34‚ told the Randburg Magistrate's Court during his bail application on Friday that he discarded one of his three cell phones after he received messages warning him that his life was at risk and after the police told his children that if they found him they would kill him.

• WATCH: Theft suspect in Chief Justice burglary case asks 'why me?'Nkosinathi Msimango has one question for acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane: "Why me and where did you get my name from?" 

"When I was arrested‚ the police told me that i am lucky because if they had found me first they would have killed me‚" Msimango said.

Msimango‚ who took the stand in his bail application‚ told the court that when he handed himself to the police two weeks ago‚ one of the police officers‚ who took him for questioning called a woman named Mpho.

He said the woman was asked to give a description of the man who sold her a computer.

"General Motsepe called Mpho and asked her to describe the Nathi she had told them about. She said the Nathi she was referring to was light in complexion and hefty."

• Bail denied in Chief Justice computer theft caseThe 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. 

Msimango told the court that he had never agreed to show the police where the computers are as the police alleged.

He said he handed himself to the police on his attorney's advice‚ who he said told him that the real perpetrators would go after him and kill him.

"My attorney said if they kill me that will be the end of the case because the police will assume I am the person who committed the offence.

"I did not do this thing. I do not know anything about the computers. I was sleeping when the robbery took place‚" Msimango said.

Msimango had earlier told the court that he lives in a gated complex that is manned by a security guard. He said at night‚ security guards register all cars that enter and leave the complex.

• Man 'critical' to investigation of burglary at offices of the Chief Justice hands himself over to police‚ says he is innocentThe man who acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane says is crucial to the investigation into the burglary at office of the Chief Justice has been handed over to police. 

He said he was at his house the night before the incident happened and had only gone out to fetch his fiance from her friend's place.

"I never left the house until the next morning when I went to attend a funeral."

During cross examination‚ Msimango told the court that he is a taxi owner. He took over the business when his father died.

The court also heard that he owns four cars in including a white A Class Mercedes Benz and three cellphones.

It was also revealed during cross examination that Msimango had gone to see a priest when he found out he was sought by the police.

• Chief Justice burglary: Lawyer questions why suspects were arrested The three men arrested after being "linked" to the burglary at the office of the chief justice were surprised to find out about their sudden notoriety. 

"I went to the priest to understand why i was being sought by the police and why my brothers were arrested‚" Msimango said when prosecutor Yusuf Baba asked him why he did not go to the police instead.

"The message the police left with the children broke me and I was worried because they tortured and interrogated my brothers‚" Msimango continued.

Msimango is said by the police to be the crucial man into the burglary at the Chief Justice's office where 15 computers were stolen two weeks ago.

The bail application continues.

- TMG Digital