Detective denies instructing assault on accused in Joshlin Smith case

THE investigating officer in the disappearance of Joshlin Smith, Detective Captain Wesley Lombard, yesterday denied allegations that he instructed others to assault one of the accused, Van Rhyn.

- ROBIN-LEE FRANCKE

Lombard was under cross-examination yesterday when Bobble Mkabayi, the legal representative for Van Rhyn, asserted that her client alleges Lombard instructed people to assault him.

Previously, in his plea explanation, Van Rhyn said the State got him assaulted and handcuffed by men he got a lift from. He later discovered that they were cops, and he was taken to Jacobsbaai.

He said he was told he was going to be killed and was continuously asked where Joshlin was.

He claimed he was taken to the Seadog offices where he was further tortured by being hung up by the air, suffocated with a plastic bag, beaten, and had his testicles pinched.

Van Rhyn also claimed at one point a firearm was placed in his mouth and he was threatened.

"It is my instructions that you went up and down doing interviews (at the Seadog offices) beating up and down instructing people to beat him (Van Rhyn)," Mkabayi submitted. However, Lombard denied this was not true and he never gave anyone instructions to assault any of the accused.