Reservists in dock for drug robbery
Two police reservists who are accused of failing to book in dagga and cash confiscated from an arrested suspect have appeared in court.
|||Cape Town – Two police reservists who are accused of failing to book in dagga and cash confiscated from an arrested suspect at the Grassy Park police station, appeared in a court in Cape Town on Thursday.
Mark Ward, 41, and Danny Williams, 45, face charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice.
They were not asked to plead when they appeared before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville in Cape Town.
According to the charge sheet, they were on vehicle patrol in Grassy Park in February when they stopped to search a suspect on foot in the street.
Williams found five packets of dagga and R2 500 cash in the suspect’s trouser pocket.
According to the charge sheet, they arrested the suspect, then drove around with him seated in the back of the patrol vehicle.
As they drove around, they encountered the suspect’s father, and informed the father that they had arrested his son on a charge of dealing in drugs.
However, after driving around with the suspect for a while longer, they stopped to release him.
Later, the released suspect accompanied his father to the Grassy Park police station to inquire about the confiscated money, only to be informed that no charges had been filed against him and that no money or drugs had been booked in.
On the fraud charge, senior State advocate Simon Leope alleges that the two police officers had falsely informed the father and son that the son was to be charged with possession of dagga and that the confiscated dagga and cash were to be booked in as exhibits.
It is alleged that, in fact, Ward and Williams had no intention to charge the son, and later booked in only R700 of the R2 500, as “found abandoned” and not confiscated cash.
Both are set to appear in court again on February 5 next year.
African News Agency
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