/ 12 October 2000

‘FAECES CASE’ ACCUSED GET BAIL

THREE Commando members who allegedly forced a Northern Province teenager to eat his faeces appeared in the Potgietersrus court this week and were granted bail of R1000 each. Chrstiaan Jacobus Human, Gert Johannes Pretorius and Hermanus Johannes Nel, were not asked to plead on charges of assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. The men are said to have assaulted Piet Maimela, 17, of Mahwelereng, near Potgietersrus, whom they suspected of housebreaking. The men found Maimela hitch-hiking on a road to Mahwereleng last Friday night and then apparently started beating him. “They beat him until he relieved himself, and forced him to eat the faeces as well as smeared them on his face,” a provincial police representative said. Police rescued the teenager from the men and took him to hospital, where he received a double stitch on the face. Police then charged him with housebreaking. The men are to appear in court again on November 28. – Own Correspondent