Three former police officers will be swapping their blue uniforms for orange prison garbs after they were convicted and sentenced on four charges. The accused will serve an effective 15 years’ imprisonment following their sentencing in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Friday (17/02).
They received 15 years for corruption, eight years for assault, four years for kidnapping, and three years for defeating the ends of justice. The accused are Patrick Ntokozo Mthembu (42), Mokgothu Benedict Mokhobo (47), and Thabiso Patrick Rabannye (38). They were further declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The case emanates from a cross-border incident involving a Lesotho national, Lepolisa Ramahlele, who the officers caught on 5 June 2020, illegally crossing the border into South Africa to sell cigarettes. The officers were stationed at the Diphiring border gate.
Phaladi Shuping, provincial spokesperson of the National Prosecution Authority (NPA), said the court heard that the officers demanded bribery from Ramahlele to avoid being arrested for contravention of Covid-19 lockdown regulations. He said the man offered R10 000 after the accused objected his initial offer of R7 000, saying it was too little.
“Ramahlele called his friend to bring him R3 000. While they were waiting for a friend to bring the R3 000, the accused took the complainant’s bag of cigarettes and tobacco products worth R30 000. They tied his hands, and threatened to throw him in the nearby river. One fired a shot on the ground, ordered Ramahlele to get into the car, and they drove with him to Zastron against his will. Evidence thereof is that they did not register the confiscated bag at the police station,” said Shuping.
Arguing in aggravation of the sentence, the State Prosecutor, Sello Matlhoko, told the court that the accused as police officers failed to uphold the law.
“The accused breached their oath of office and the trust that the people of South Africa put in them. They were placed at the border gate with a responsibility to prevent and combat cross-border crimes, including illegal crossing to and from South Africa, but they failed to prevent the illegal crossing of the complainant because they wanted money from him” said Matlhoko.
