Nawaal Deane
In a scenario disturbingly reminiscent of apartheid policing, Andrew Taylor claims two policemen tortured him on Tuesday in Northam in the Northern Province. They dropped all charges and released him the next day.
Taylor claims two policemen from the Pretoria murder and robbery unit took him to a private game farm outside Pretoria, where he was tortured for three hours in an attempt to get him to confess to murdering his girlfriend.
“They tied wire around his toes and gave him electric shocks from a dynamo,” says his attorney Phillip Silver. The policemen also stood on Taylor’s ankle chains and attempted to suffocate him with some sort of rubber tubing. “They kept asking him to repeat his story but he maintained his innocence.”
A police district surgeon said Taylor’s wounds were fresh. “There were marks on his ankles and on his toes from chains,” says Silver.
Taylor was arrested two weeks ago in connection with the murder of his girlfriend. He had found her stabbed to death in her townhouse, but there was no evidence of forced entry.
The following day he failed a polygraph test and was arrested, but bail was not set because the police said they needed to investigate the case further. He agreed to cooperate with the police and told them his girlfriend had fired her gardener after a cheque belonging to her was stolen, and had laid a fraud charge against him.
This week the gardener confessed to the murder.
Silver has advised Taylor to file criminal charges against the policemen and sue Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Penuell Maduna for wrongful arrest and torture. “He has been traumatised and will definitely need some sort of therapy and counselling.”
Marina van der Walt, representative for the Northern Province police, confirmed Taylor was held in custody for two weeks then released. “It was alleged that he was assaulted by policemen but he did not lay charges against them.” She confirmed another person was arrested in connection with the murder.