PH
All eight police officers involved in the murder of Mozambican minibus taxi driver Mido Macia lied, a judge said on Tuesday.
Judge Bert Bam found all eight accused guilty of murder in the High Court in Pretoria.
“The accused must rise,” Bam ordered.
“Accused 1 to 8, you are convicted of murder,” Bam said before adjourning that matter to 14:00 for possible sentencing. The eight were led down to the cells.
“All eight of them acted in common purpose in the dragging of Macia behind a police van and his assault in the Daveyton police station’s cells on Tuesday, February 26, 2013.
“It is found that accused 2 to 8 assaulted the deceased in the cells, thereby seriously injuring him. There can be no doubt that they foresaw that the injuries could result in his death,” Bam ruled.
The first accused, Meshack Malele, was not involved in the assault at the station.
He went to seek medical attention after claiming that Macia had knocked out one of his teeth when he tried to arrest him at the Daveyton taxi rank earlier. Two of the officers confronted him for obstructing traffic with his minibus and a scuffle broke out.
Bam said they all chose to lie.
He rejected their claims that they did not know that Macia was seriously injured.
The eight officers – Malele, 46, Thamsamqa Mgema, 35, Percy Jonathan Mnisi, 26, Bongamusa Mdluli, 25, Sipho Sydwell Ngobeni, 30, Lungisa Gwababa, 31, Bongani Kolisi, 27 and Linda Sololo, 56 – all pleaded not guilty. A ninth officer was discharged because of insufficient evidence against him.
