‘Play the video’: CCTV could shake up Reiger Park police murder case

Reagan Cheslin Collis, Jamal Meyer and Elvino Levert Crafford face four counts of murder following the fatal shooting of two police officers and two women in Reiger Park.

The lawyer representing three men arrested in connection with the killing of two police officers and two women in Reiger Park has urged the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court to play CCTV footage that he says could support his clients’ alibi defences.

Attorney Samkele Kuzani made the application during formal bail proceedings for Reagan Cheslin Collis, 23, Jamal Meyer, 24, and Elvino Levert Crafford, 27.

The three appeared in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court this week, facing charges arising from the shootings on August 7 in Reiger Park which claimed the lives of Anti-Gang Unit officers Constables Thapelo Tlomatsana, 29, and Sphiwe Sibeko, 28, as well as civilians Roleen Lessing and Jaydin Margerman.

Police have said the officers were conducting crime-prevention patrols in the area when they heard the gunshots which killed the women. They drove towards the source of the gunfire and were allegedly ambushed.

Kuzani told the court that the footage was important to establish where the three men were at the time of the shooting.

He asked the magistrate to allow the footage to be played in court, saying it would show that Collis was at home when the shooting occurred and that Meyer and Crafford were not at the scene.

“Your Worship, for the purposes of justice, I find it to be very prudent that those videos be played in court,” Kuzani said.

He said the footage would play a critical role in determining what happened on August 7.

“My main concern, Your Worship, is that only alleging on the affidavit that there is video footage and it is not played, it does not put my clients in a position which will be legally good, so to speak,” he said.

State prosecutor Matthews Rampyapedi said the State was not disputing that some of the accused had alibis for the night of the shooting.

However, he questioned whether the footage would assist all three men.

Rampyapedi said the footage provided to the State was limited and appeared to show only the inside of a yard at a particular time.

“It does not show what happened entirely on the street,” he said, adding that the footage did not show the entire incident and that, if it was the footage referred to by the defence, it had limited evidential value.