Cop faces charge of bribery

A police official, accused of corruptly requesting money for the release of a suspect arrested for assault, is in the dock.

Harold Deon Jacobs, 41, based at the Kraaifontein police station, appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg on Thursday.

He was not asked to plead to a charge of corruptly requesting, and receiving, R2 000, and was warned to appear in court again on May 30.

According to the charge sheet, a suspect was arrested and locked in a cell at the station in December 2015, when an amount of R3 900 was removed from him and recorded in a special police register, in accordance with standing procedures.

Prosecutor Thersia du Toit-Smit al- leged that Jacobs requested R2 000 from the suspect the next day, while taking his fingerprints.

The suspect agreed to the alleged bribe and Jacobs fetched the R3 900 from the safe gave it to the suspect – but kept R2 000.

However, a captain on duty at the charge office became suspicious and summoned Jacobs to his office, where the captain found Jacobs still in possession of the money.

It is also normal procedure for bank notes taken from arrested suspects to be photocopied for security purposes.

The money found in Jacobs’ possession was compared with the photocopied notes and, according to the state, the serial numbers of the notes corresponded. – ANA