of cocaine
INSPECTOR Jacques Swanepoel is not an exception within a police force widely perceived to be teeming with rogue cops.
Swanepoel (33) has been charged with murder, assault, possession of cocaine and defeating the ends of justice. He was granted R1 000 bail.
A member of the hard-pressed South African Narcotic Bureau (Sanab), it is alleged that he shot and killed Allan Cash in June this year, during an illegal stop and search on the streets of Hillbrow in Johannesburg.
Clive Fourie, Cash’s nephew, said witnesses have given statements that his uncle was murdered by Swanepoel who fired two shots into the car without provocation.
Cash(44) was hit by one bullet which apparently entered his left shoulder, went through both his lungs and out his back. A female passenger was wounded by the other bullet.
Police say earlier that night Swanepoel and a colleague had tried to gain entry to an upmarket brothel called The Ranch in Johannesburg’s plush northern suburbs.
When they were prevented by a security guard it is alleged Swanepoel brutally attacked the man, knocking out several of his teeth in the process.
The two men and another officer later stopped Cash’s white Ford Escort on the street claiming they were looking for drugs. Swanepoel was officially off-duty on sick leave at the time.
“I believe they were out looking for trouble and my uncle was a victim of their aggression,” said Fourie. “These guys were hoping to get a drug dealer so they could rob him and sell the drugs themselves.”
His family is planning to sue the state for personal loss on behalf of Cash’s elderly parents, who depended on him for financial support.
Swanepoel, who is now on suspension, claims he fired in self-defence after Cash attempted to run him over with the car.
But Sergeant James van Rooyen, the anti- corruption officer investigating the case, claimed there were several holes in the inspector’s story.
Van Rooyen, who has investigated more than 100 allegations of criminal activity by the police in South Africa’s highrise slum Hillbrow, said he was still waiting for forensic evidence to show if the shot fired at Cash entered from the back or the front.
“The circumstances surrounding the case are still unclear. We have enough information to charge Inspector Swanepoel but the investigation is still not finished.”
He said 70% of the proven cases he has investigated in Hillbrow end up with criminal conviction against the officers. The charges range from assault, armed robbery, murders, attempted murders and accepting bribes.