Brixton police might face a murder charge
A charge of murder might be added to the list of charges faced by the two Brixton police officers accused of assaulting, suffocating and disposing of a Nigerian national, on January 24.
This emerged during their appearance in the Benoni Magistrates Court today (January 29).
The officers are now facing three charges: kidnapping, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and defeating the ends of justice.
The constables, aged 31 and 32, were appearing for the first time since their arrest on January 28.
The officers wanted to apply for bail, but Benoni senior prosecutor December Mthimunye requested a postponement, as the state still had to:
- profile the accused for any pending cases or criminal records;
- verify their physical addresses;
- refer the matter to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP);
- place witnesses under protection, as there has been interference from the police.
Mthimunye said the court received information that Benoni police carried out a raid on the property where the incident occurred last night (January 28).
Defence advocate Stephan van Rensburg argued that the state had ample time to do all of the above since the incident first occurred and that their failure to gather sufficient information in time can’t be used to infringe on the accused’s right to a bail application.
Magistrate Ian Cox conceded that the accused have right to bail application.
He, however, disagreed with van Rensburg when he said the state failed to profile the accused and to verify their addresses on time.
“Will it be OK for the state to profile a person before their arrest? No, I don’t think so, so I disagree that the state had ample time,” said Cox.
He added that it must be borne in mind that “rights and fairness” is a double-edged sword and needs to be balanced for the benefit of both the accused and the state.
“This court is also entitled to postpone matters for seven days to allow for investigation, irrespective of whether the accused is a police officer, a president or a civilian,” said Cox.
“On balance of probability, I think it’s fair to grant the state postponement to do what they want to do.”
The case has been postponed to February 3.
