The trial-within-a-trial in the Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala matter turned on the identity of an unnamed doctor on Monday, after a former station commander told the court he removed an accused from hospital on the strength of a warning he could not verify.
Colonel Owen King, then commander of Bramley police station, testified that hospital staff at Edenvale Hospital raised the alarm after allegedly overhearing accused Musa Kekana discussing a plan to have someone forcibly remove him from the ward while he was under police guard.
King told the court he was informed of the threat by a doctor he never met and could not identify, and that he then instructed a subordinate to move Kekana from the hospital to the Bramley cells.
He said his concern was the safety of his officers and hospital personnel.
The defence objected, arguing the evidence was hearsay and that it would be prejudiced because the doctor cannot be called or cross-examined.
The objection goes to the heart of what the trial-within-a-trial is meant to decide.
Kekana is challenging the lawfulness of his arrest and the admissibility of evidence obtained afterwards, and has alleged that police removed him from hospital before his treatment was complete, in violation of his constitutional rights.
If the justification for that removal rests on a source the court cannot examine, the state’s account of why it acted is left resting on a voice on a telephone.
Matlala, Tsakani Matlala, Kekana, Tiego Floyd Mabusela and Zandile Nthabiseng Nzama face 25 charges arising from three alleged attempted murder incidents between August 2022 and January 2024, including conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, unlawful possession of prohibited firearms and ammunition, money laundering and fraud. All have pleaded not guilty.
The state has indicated it expects to close its case in the trial-within-a-trial this week.
Proceedings continue today, on Tuesday. 8 September 2026
