Clerk in Timol case got letter of praise

Investigator queries motivation

SERGEANT Joao Rodriguez, the administrative clerk at John Vorster Square who was the only person said to be present when political activist Ahmed Timol “jumped” out of the window, received a letter of commendation by the highest office in the then SA Police for his “faithful” services to the police.

This was the evidence of top criminal investigator Frank Dutton, who was the first head of the Scorpions unit.

Rodriguez, who is to take the stand on Monday during the second inquest into Timol’s death, resigned two days before a magistrate on June 22, 1972, delivered his verdict in the original inquest.

The magistrate at the time exonerated the police of any wrongdoing and found Timol committed suicide, as claimed by the then Security Branch of the police.

Timol’s family, however, called for a second inquest 46 years later, as they believed he was tortured and killed.

When Rodriguez left the police, then commissioner General GL Joubert issued him with the letter, expressing his appreciation for Rodriguez’s “exemplary behaviour.”

Dutton told the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, that this was in spite of Rodriguez earlier being convicted of perjury, for which he was given a suspended sentence and that he took 301 days sick leave while in the force.

Dutton said this was strange behaviour by the commissioner, who never issued such letters to any of the other branch members.

It was even stranger in light of the fact that Rodriguez “failed to stop” Timol from “jumping” out of the window.

Even stranger, was that Rodriguez was a mere administrative clerk with a rather bland career.

He testified that the steps taken by the police to establish what happened the day Timol died revealed “a most substandard investigation”. According to him, the police did everything in their power to cover-up what had really happened.

He said none of the witnesses who should have been questioned, were ever approached and hardly any investigation went into the circumstances surrounding Timol’s death.

He also said the fact that Timol’s body was immediately removed from where he had landed, added to his conclusion that the police tried to cover-up the circumstances around his death.

“I submit that the version of the police of what happened to Timol must be viewed with considerable suspicion and caution. In my view, the police version is most likely a fabrication,” Dutton said.

An expert on trajectory is due to take the stand today. His evidence is aimed at shedding more light on whether Timol jumped out of the window or whether he was pushed.