PAUL KIRK, Durban | Friday
After being placed under arrest by policemen, a suspect inexplicably decided to escape from lawful custody, ran away from his captors then tragically tripped over a brick and fell.
He died while the concerned, conscientious policemen waited for an ambulance to arrive.
Unfortunately three registers from the police station documenting the tragic accident have gone missing.
Observers in the Durban High Court this week could have been forgiven for thinking they had slipped into a time warp. The testimony presented was reminiscent of police treatment of anti-apartheid activists during the 1970s and 1980s.
On trial are four policemen who formerly served at the Chatsworth police station and have since been redeployed to other police stations.
Captain Malcolm Ragavan, Sergeant Preganathan Naidoo, Inspector Dhinasagren Govender and Constable Colin Solomon have pleaded not guilty to bludgeoning a deaf mute – Clive Michael – to death with as yet unidentified blunt weapons.
Giving evidence against them this week was Sergeant Pravesh Ramdeen – who, in return for snitching on his colleagues, may be given immunity for his small part in the death of Michael. Ramdeen has admitted to slapping Michael.
Ramdeen explained to the court that he was upset because the deaf mute man did not answer his questions. He suspected Michael had broken into a car.
Ramdeen testified that after the slap, he dragged Michael to his feet and the youth wiped his bleeding lip, which he said explained why there was blood splattered all over a wall.
Defence advocate Gideon Scheltema, SC, was not convinced. He put to Ramdeen that the attack was far more serious than you would have us believe.
Earlier Sibusiso Mseleje of the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD)tabled a report by a state pathologist which read that the wounds on Michaels face were consistent with a fall. Serious wounds on his stomach, however, were entirely consistent with heavy and repeated blows with a blunt object.
Scheltema pointed out that a number of registers relating to the death are missing from the Chatsworth police station. The occurrence book, which has not disappeared, records that Michael tripped and fell on a pile of bricks.
The ICD alleges the accused were drunk at the time of Michaels death.
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