A Johannesburg police detective on Wednesday told Eyewitness News he was frustrated and angry at not being able to solve cases because of a massive backlog in toxicology reports. The detective said he has at least six cases on ice with the oldest dating back to 2007.

Despite checking in on them every week, he keeps being told the backlog at the laboratory has not been cleared. The Department of Health said it is aware of the problems and is busy fixing them.

The policeman said the worst part is having to tell the victims’ families there is no movement in their cases due to missing forensic evidence. He said some murder investigations were even thrown out of court.

“I have two cases from 2009 that were withdrawn because the prosecutor said he could not go on with the case if there was no toxicology reports,” he said

Another problem is that even if the cases are re-instated, there is no guarantee that the suspects can be traced a second time.

Toxicology tests are done to ensure there are no drugs in the victim’s system and to rule out medical negligence.

(Edited by Lenyaro Sello)