Macia murder: cops sentenced to 15 years each
THE 15-year jail sentence handed down to each of the eight former Daveyton policemen who murdered Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macia should serve as a deterrent to other rogue police officers who may be tempted to act in similar fashion.
This is according to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), who welcomed yesterday’s sentencing of Meshack Malele, Thamsanqa Ngema, Percy Mnisi, Bongamusa Mdluli, Sipho Ngobeni, Lungisa Gwababa, Bongani Kolisi and Linda Sololo.
Pretoria high court Judge Bert Bam said the eight acted in common purpose when they inflicted the injuries on Macia, which led to his death, and were therefore treated equally when he sentenced them.
While gasps of shock sounded from the packed public gallery as the eight were sentenced, Ipid and Macia family spokesman Jose Nascimento, said it was a fair sentence.
Ipid spokesman Robbie Raburabu said the sentence should discourage others from acting in a similar manner. “This is not the way in which police officers should behave. They should rather arrest a suspect and refrain from this conduct.”
He denied there was a problem within the police service, which sometimes resulted in some of the officers taking matters into their own hands. “We live in a violent society but the police must simply do their work and change their atti- tude. They are here to do a job – to protect society.”
Macia’s family were not at court yesterday, but Nascimento said he would convey the sentence to them. “I think it was a fair sentence but they wanted life imprisonment. They live in almost sub-human conditions in Mozambique. They lost their breadwinner.”
Nascimento said he was negotiating with the government regarding a settlement in the damages claim brought by the family against the police.
Family members of the jailed former officers were shocked by the outcome. Mnisi’s cousin Clement Mashego said they were simply doing their job. “This is totally unfair. They were on duty, yet they are being abandoned by (police union) Popcru and the SAPS.”
Defence advocate Benny Ndabasaid they would appeal.
Judge Bam said Macia had been the sole breadwinner of his family. He said that while the police often worked under difficult circumstances, with members of the public sometimes provoking them, the conduct of rogue police officers was unacceptable.
The judge said the police should conduct themselves in a proper and reasonable manner and should respect the law.
The judge found that Malele and Ngema, the two officers who confronted Macia for parking his taxi illegally on the afternoon of February 26, 2013, misled their other colleagues when they called for help, claiming they had legally arrested him and he was being difficult.
But he said the others’ wrong conduct started when Macia was cuffed to the back of a police van and dragged a distance behind the vehicle. They also took part in his further assault once he was in a holding cell.
This resulted in his death a few hours later.