Ex-cop has charges reduced

Judgment in the case against a former Port Elizabeth police constable Walter Francis, charged with a murder in which his official police firearm was used, was postponed in the city’s high court yesterday.

Francis was charged with the murder of a suspected gangster in Bethelsdorp in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas. During the trial, the state conceded there was no evidence placing Francis on the scene of the 2014 murder and no evidence of a conspiracy.

The state has asked the court to convict Francis on a charge of culpable homicide instead.

Judgment was meant to be handed down yesterday, but the court said it needed more time.

The state alleges that on October 25, 2014, Francis, 29, Enzorich Kroates, 22, and Clement Kogana, 29, were at the home of Shane Potberg, 34, when a shooting occurred. Following the incident, Francis gave his official police firearm and several rounds of ammunition to Potberg, a suspected gangster. The next day Potberg, Kroates, Kogana and another person drove to Bethelsdorp to “take out” Denton Rademeyer.

A section 204 witness, Alex Ferreira, who apparently drove the vehicle for Rademeyer’s murder, was meant to testify, but was shot and killed last year. His statement was subsequently ruled inadmissible and Francis was subsequently also charged with his murder.

Potberg was also charged but was shot and killed when gunmen fired into his Dolph Roadhouse in Bethelsdorp in February 2016.

Kroates and Kogana were earlier found not guilty on charges of murder and unlawful possession of firearm and ammunition.

Judge Jannie Eksteen will hand down judgment on July 18. – ANA