Standardised tests to determine singer-songwriter Arno Carstens’s blood alcohol level have come under the spotlight in court.
|||Cape Town - Standardised tests to determine singer-songwriter Arno Carstens’s blood alcohol level have come under the spotlight in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court.
Carstens’s lawyer, Milton de la Harpe, questioned the quality of the work done by State forensic analyst Pakama Pati, who tested Carstens’s blood sample after he was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol nearly three years ago.
De la Harpe said the results compiled by Pati could not be accurate because test solutions were used long after the specified timeframe in which they should have been.
Pati agreed that she had to adhere to the guidelines of the National Metrology Institute of SA (Nmisa) which specified standards - specific test solutions - had to be used within eight weeks of opening each tube.
De la Harpe told the court that six standards had to be used to test Carstens’s blood alcohol level, according to Nmisa’s guidelines, and that each test was done.
But four of the six standards were used after the eight-week period had lapsed.
“I put to you that out of the six standards used only two passed the specifications stipulated and four were done after eight weeks.
“How can you say that is good-quality work that fulfils the requirements of Nmisa?” De la Harpe asked.
Pati maintained that the tests she had done were accurate.
“We realised we used our standards above the eight weeks, so… we took a standard and tried to analyse it after the date and found that there was no difference in the results. We ran our own tests to prove that after the eight weeks it’s still valid,” Pati said.
During her evidence in chief, Pati said the health department’s alcohol laboratory complied with national and international standards.
Carstens has pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in the CBD in December 2010. He was arrested after 11pm while driving in a black Mercedes Benz with tinted windows.
De la Harpe asked for the case to be adjourned on Thursday because he had more technical points that he wanted to put to Pati but preferred to have the defence’s forensic expert present.
Carstens is due back in court on May 8. His bail of R500 was extended.
jade.otto@inl.co.za
Cape Argus