/ 19 March 2008

McBride victimised me, former metro cop tells court

A former metro police officer told the Pretoria Regional Court on Wednesday how he had been victimised by Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride.

Patrick Johnston was testifying in McBride’s drunken-driving trial.

Speaking in Afrikaans, Johnston told the court how he had been victimised by McBride and how his boss had sworn at him on several occasions.

”He spoke to us like rubbish … like we didn’t exist,” he said.

He told the court how McBride had been a difficult person to work with and that he finally made his statement to the police because he could not cope with threats that McBride constantly made.

Johnston confirmed that he had made a prior statement about the December 2006 accident.

He said that the first statement was false and although he had signed the statement, it was not a true reflection of that night’s events.

McBride has pleaded not guilty to defeating the ends of justice, fraud and driving under the influence of alcohol relating to an accident in Centurion in December 2006. — Sapa