Grahamstown cop assaulted, locked in cell in two-hour drama

A GRAHAMSTOWN policeman was allegedly assaulted, overpowered and locked inside a cell for two hours by a convicted murderer who was out of jail on parole.

The incident, kept under wraps by the police, happened in the early hours of Sunday May 27.

A police source told the Dispatch that Sandiso Valela, 24, pounced on the policeman, who was approaching retirement, at the Joza police station bathrooms.

This was after he called the officer to escort him to the restroom further down the corridors.

Valela had been arrested earlier and charged with malicious damage to property in relation to his girlfriend’s smashed TV set in her Joza Extension 9 home.

He had managed to escape by turning the tables on the policeman and locking the officer in the cell that was meant for him.

However, he was rearrested at the scene of the crime just two hours after his brazen escape, police spokeswoman Captain Mali Govender said yesterday.

Valela had been released on parole after serving three years of a five-year sentence for murder at the Waainek Prison in Grahamstown.

Eastern Cape Correctional Services provincial spokeswoman Nobuntu Gantana said: “He was sentenced to 10 years in jail with five years suspended, meaning that he was serving five years.

“Of the five years he was serving he had already served three years and so he qualified for parole.”

Gantana said Valela had violated one of the parole conditions and this had probably jeopardised his chances of being released on parole again.

Gantana said one of the conditions of his parole was that Valela should not commit any crime or offence of any kind while on parole.

Gantana said the parole board would meet tomorrow to review Valela’s release.

Govender said the convicted murderer was now facing an additional charge of escaping from lawful custody on top of the malicious damage to property count.

Govender said the officer sustained injuries from the assault but she declined to give details.

Valela’s girlfriend Ntombozuko Mnqanqeni said Valela broke the television set after he could not find her at home.

Mnqanqeni said Valela was convicted of murder after he killed her brother in 2013.