MATSAPHA: Police are allegedly tempering with evidence to cover-up a bullet hole that was found in deceased law student Thabani Nkomonye’s car.

This comes after this Swaziland News exclusively reported on Thursday that Thabani Nkomonye was allegedly killed by the police on Saturday, his body was subsequently dumped at Nhlambeni with the car hidden at Sigodvweni Police Station.

On Wednesday police had invited members of the public to assist them in locating Thabani Nkomonye and the car that was in their possession.

Now fresh evidence in a form of pictures obtained on Sunday, 16th May 2021 suggests that the police allegedly tempered with the car to cover-up the bullet hole that was found, as a result, a picture obtained on Thursday shows the car with a bullet hole while on Sunday after the alleged tempering, it has been pictured without a bullet hole.

Reached for comments on Sunday , Thabani’s uncle Sakhile Dlamini who was speaking on behalf of the family said they are aware that the police are tempering with the evidence to cover-up the alleged killing of their son.

“As we speak, I am on my way to the Police Station to see what is happening, they told us they are investigating but it seems this is not an investigation but they are trying to cover-up” ,he said.

Evidence analysis conducted by this publication suggests that in the first picture that was taken on Thursday, the number plate and the bullet hole were more visible in Thabani’s car, however on Sunday morning it was discovered that the bullet was covered with the number plate less visible.

In a public statement, Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, the police Spokesperson alleged that Thabani was involved in a car accident and his car was towed by the police to the Matsapha Police Station.

But on Wednesday, police declared Thabani Nkomonye as a missing person, the police invited members of the public to assist in locating Thabani and the car that was in their possession.

“On Saturday night, the 8th May 2021, an accident occurred at MR9 road between Nhlambeni and KaShali, a car that was driven from Manzini towards Nhlambeni overturned. There were people who arrived at the accident scene, they tried to search for the driver to give him first aid but he was no where to be found. They then raised an alarm and more people arrived at the accident scene to search for the driver” ,she said.

The police Spokesperson said while members of the public were searching for the driver of the car, police from Matsapha who were patrolling the area arrived at the accident scene

.“While the people were searching, police from Matsapha police station who were patrolling the area arrived at the scene coming from the Sidvokodvo-Manzini direction.

When the police arrived at the scene, they asked the people what had happened and they were told that an accident occurred, the police then joined the search for the driver but unfortunately, the driver was not found.As it usually happened in such accidents where you find that the driver was running away from the police, it was suspected that even this one was fleeing from the police” ,said the Police Spokesperson.

Reached for comments earlier, Sibusiso Nhlabatsi, a human rights lawyer said it was now becoming common for the police to kill citizens with impunity, he called for an Independent Police Complaints Commission that would investigate the police adding that police cannot cannot investigate themselves.

Meanwhile, University students are organising a protest march against police brutality on Monday, Thabani was a law student at the University of Eswatini(UNESWA).