Co-operate or get locked up‚ judge warns witness in Timol inquest

04 August 2017 - 15:58 By Sipho Mabena
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Judge court gavel
Judge court gavel
Image: Gallo Images/iStockphoto

An unco-operative witness in the inquest into activist Ahmed Timol’s death in 1971 might land in hot water should he continue with this conduct‚ Judge Billy Mothle has warned.

On Friday‚ Dr Torrie Pretorius‚ for the state‚ asked that the court issue an instruction that Adam Ahmed‚ who worked at a filling station across from the notorious John Vorster Square police station in October 1971‚ appear before the court next week.

Pretorius asked that the current subpoena against the witness‚ which was valid from July 24 to August 4‚ be extended so that Ahmed appears on August 10 and 11.

Motlhe said the subpoena will be extended and that‚ if need be‚ a fresh one could be issued.

The judge noted that the witness had previously refused to co-operate despite a subpoena and said the court will not hesitate to lock him up should he continue with this conduct.

“… he must be brought here and we note that previous attempts to subpoena him resulted in him not co-operating. I think it should be made clear to him that should he persist in that conduct‚ we won’t hesitate to apply the law to lock him up … every attempt must be made to secure his presence here‚” Motlhe said.

He said Ahmed’s evidence was critical to the inquest being held in the high court in Pretoria‚ particularly in light of new evidence regarding Timol’s time of death.

On Thursday‚ Mohammad Ali Thokan testified that he was filling up at the Dollars Petrol Station on the morning of October 27 1971 when he heard a thud and a pedestrian exclaiming that someone had fallen from the building.

The original inquest into Timol’s death and the autopsy report recorded his death to have been at about 4pm.

But Thokan‚ who ran Wonder Flooring on Pioneer Road‚ Fordsburg‚ said he could not have been mistaken about the time of the incident‚ because he was filling up to drive to Pretoria for his trading licence and he could not have done so in the afternoon.

In light of this new evidence the court also intends calling back to the stand forensic pathologists Professor Steve Naidoo and Dr Shakeera Holland as well as apartheid policeman‚ Sergeant Joao Rodriguez‚ the only person with Timol in the room when he allegedly jumped out of the window.

Timol died on October 27 1971 while in police custody at John Vorster Square. An inquest held in 1972 found that he had committed suicide by jumping from the 10th floor of the 13-storey building. But Timol’s family have refused to believe that he killed himself and asked for the inquest to be reopened because new information had come to light.

The inquest has adjourned until 10 August.


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now