Usindiso Building case: Investigator rejects claims accused was mentally unstable during confession

JOHANNESBURG - The investigating officer in the case of a man accused of torching the Usindiso Building in Johannesburg CBD has rejected claims the accused was not in the right state of mind when he confessed to the crime.

On Tuesday, 31-year-old Sthembiso Mdlalose’s lawyers told the court they plan to challenge their client’s confession, claiming he was not mentally stable at the time

Mdlalose confessed to setting the building alight during an inquiry into the ordeal last year.

The blaze killed 76 people almost two years ago.

Lieutenant Colonel Andile Manganye, who is leading the investigation, is currently testifying as a state witness at the Palm Ridge Magistrates Court.

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Manganye has told the court that before Mdlalose confessed to being behind the deadly blaze, he was asked whether he was sober.

This was after Mdlalose’s admission to using crystal meth, a point that his lawyer, Advocate Leonard Cindi, argues may have influenced his mental state at the time of the confession.

However, Manganye says it’s not true that Mdlalose could have been high.

"At the time we picked him up, he was sober-minded… I ascertained to the accused before court whether he was okay. I did this because upon picking him up at the commission of inquiry I could see that he was emotional."

When Mdlaose’s lawyer asked the investigating officer how he got to the conclusion that his client wasn’t high on drugs, this was his response: "My lord, I did not see anything in his behaviour that he was not in his sober senses, based on my observation."

The confession could be declared inadmissible if the defence successfully proves Mdlalose was not sober when he admitted to the crime.