/ 26 January 1999

ICD PROBES CHAUKE, MZWAKHE

THE claims of armed robber Collin Chauke that he was assaulted while being arrested last week will be investigated by the Independent Complaints Directorate, SABC news reported on Monday. Chauke had visible abrasions above his right eye when he was spotted by press outside the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday. Police, however, said he probably suffered minor injuries while being forced to lie down on a gravel road for handcuffing, outside the Nelspruit home where he was caught after a year on the run. ICD spokesperson Jabu Dlamini said the ICD will interview Chauke as soon as possible. Chauke, wanted in connection with numerous murders and cash-in-transit heists, escaped from prison in December 1997. The ICD will also be investigating charges that “People’s Poet” and robbery accused Mzwakhe Mbuli was assaulted by police last week.