Twist in McBride saga

The Robert McBride drunk-driving imbroglio got murkier this week, as it was revealed that the three metro police officers who have accused the Ekurhuleni police chief of intimidation are themselves the subjects of a string of criminal investigations.

The Mail & Guardian has learnt that Chief Superintendent Stanley Segathevan and Superintendents Patrick Johnson and Itumeleng Koko are being investigated by the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) and the South African Police Service in connection with a wide range of serious offences.

An allegedly unsuccessful attempt by Segathevan and Johnson to break into McBride’s Bedfordview office is the latest of these.

On Wednesday this week, the three men, who were recently suspended by the EMPD, won an interim protection order against McBride and his top brass, preventing the latter from ‘intimidating, harassing or threatening” them.

They claimed the respondents, especially McBride, had threatened to kill them and their children and rape their wives. Their legal representative told the Johannesburg High Court her clients have gone into hiding.

The application followed this week’s revelation of the contents of new affidavits the three men submitted to the NPA regarding McBride’s controversial car accident last year after a year-end function near Hartebeespoort Dam.

The Star reported on Monday that the three officers — two of whom previously proclaimed McBride’s innocence under oath — had now turned against the EMPD chief, alleging he consumed a large amount of whiskey at the function and that he ordered them to cover up the accident.

The NPA was told a false medical report was allegedly obtained and the men were ‘forced” to give false statements under oath.

In an interview on Thursday, McBride hit back at the officers, accusing them of making false statements about his accident after the EMPD and SAPS started investigating their role in serious crimes.

He said he would only provide full details of the investigations in his replying affidavit, to be filed on the interdict return date of July 24.

McBride admits that the three men, especially Segathevan, were previously close to him. ‘I came here and in my naivety didn’t realise that he [Segathevan] moved closer to me to gain more influence,” McBride told the M&G.

It is understood that in court on July 24 McBride will deny that Segathevan was at the scene on the night of the accident, and will allege that he was selling plasma screen televisions obtained from a hijacked truck.

The M&G understands that Segathevan is being investigated for trying to sell the screens to another police officer.

According to a police source in the know, a ‘pattern of the unauthorised use of confiscated vehicles” is also being investigated against Segathevan and Johnson.

Johnson is alleged to have taken a confiscated quad bike to an EMPD service provider for repair. When confronted about this, he allegedy said the bike was being moved to a police pound.

Another incident McBride will allegedly refer to is an ‘illegal raid” on the house of an EMPD superintendent.

The SAPS has been asked to conduct a criminal investigation into Segathevan and Koko for their roles in this operation.

The M&G understands that McBride will also draw on an EMPD investigation into police corruption in which Segathevan was involved. Senior police officers allegedly took part in this probe and asked McBride for certain information about some of his officers.

Segathevan allegedly refused to subject his firearm to ballistic tests and told McBride ‘we will change our statements about the accident”.

After the three officers were suspended, the EMPD searched their offices and allegedly found official stamps, keys to council offices and cars and a hacksaw in Johnson’s.

He is also being investigated in connection with the falsification of his matric qualifications. A copy of his ‘false” SAPS identification card was leaked to the M&G.

An EMPD source said the metro police were ‘flooded” with information after pictures of the three men appeared in newspapers this week.

McBride maintains his innocence over the accident and claims the NPA has not yet told him that he will be charged with drunk or reckless driving.

He gave the following version of what happened on the night of the accident to the M&G. ‘I went alone to the year-end function of the EMPD at Hartebeespoort Dam. I was the last to arrive and the first to leave. I left between 6pm and 7pm.

‘I consumed no alcohol at the function and was only supposed to deliver a speech of half an hour, thanking my staff for their hard work.

‘I had to leave to meet an informant. When I arrived [at the venue] the guys were playing soccer and I joined them. Remember that by then my insulin dosage had been increased [he is diabetic].

‘A day before the accident I even fell asleep at the traffic light. Johnson and Koko still had to fetch me and drive me home.

‘I gave a speech and left. By the time I arrived at the function, it was almost finished. I closed the event. That was the only way they could come to my assistance.”

McBride claims that he cannot remember what happened after the accident. He does, however, recall that he was taken to his doctor, Segathevan’s brother.

‘He has been my doctor for over a year. He is the same person who increased my insulin dosage.”

McBride confirmed that he had subsequently travelled to Durban, but denied that the purpose of the trip was to obtain a false medical certificate.

He said he was referred by his lawyer to a specialist in Durban, whose name he could not recall. ‘This was done in an attempt to explain my blackout [during the accident].”

McBride also attacked Segathevan’s claim that everything on the Durban trip was paid for in cash. ‘They are talking absolute nonsense,” he said. ‘When I go on trips, I use my credit card.”

Saleem Ebrahim, lawyer for the three officers, on Thursday denied knowledge of the investigation into his clients. ‘I am not representing them on any other matters,” Ebrahim added.

He also told the M&G it is impossible to contact the men. ‘To tell you the truth, if is even difficult for me to get hold of them at this point in time.”