Kimberley - One of the police officials in Kimberley implicated in a theft, corruption and bribery investigation has killed himself.
Sergeant Nazeem Newman, 41, shot himself in the head with his service pistol on Friday at approximately 5.30pm, in his office at the Kimberley police station.
This was the same place where he was arrested, along with two other police officials, Frida Mofokeng, 41 and Constable Orapeleng Mosala, 38, after reporting for duty on September 7.
A fourth co-accused, Eugene Valla, 34, who resigned from the SAPS a few months ago, was also arrested and the four appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on September 7.
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Newman was facing charges of corruption, theft and accepting a benefit (bribe) in the form of a bottle of whisky, together with Mofokeng and Valla.
Newman and Valla were released on R500 bail each, while Mofokeng was released on a warning.
Their arrests were the result of an investigation that spanned nearly a year following an incident at the Horseshoe Motel on November 17 2015, where it is alleged that the first three accused received a bottle of whisky, while property to the value of R250 was also stolen.
At the time of the arrests, police spokeswoman, Brigadier Masebueng Mochologi, confirmed the arrests to a large media contingent that gathered outside the Kimberley police station, adding that it followed a “long and thorough investigation”.
While she was not willing to go into the details of the charges, the police were convinced that they had a solid case against the accused.
“Two sergeants and two constables, one of whom resigned from the SAPS, were arrested on charges of theft and corruption,” she told reporters shortly after three of the four accused reported for duty at the Kimberley police station.
“The arrests follow a long, intelligence-driven operation which took almost a year to reach this point. It cannot be allowed that those who are meant to be fighting crime are the ones committing illegal offences and we hope that their arrests send a strong message that we will not tolerate criminal activity from our members. We are confident that the case against them is watertight,” Mochologi said at the time.
Police spokeswoman, Lieutenant-Colonel Dimakatso Mooi, said on Sunday that the circumstances surrounding the shooting were not yet known, and only confirmed that police had opened an inquest following the death of Newman.
However, people close to Newman, who wished to stay anonymous, said on Sunday that they believed the embarrassment of the arrest, during which he was apparently cuffed with his own handcuffs and led out of his office, drove Newman to commit suicide.
“His work was his everything; it is what his life revolved around. He was a total workaholic. His arrest was an embarrassment to himself and his family and I think he could not face the whispers and glances (in the hallways of the police station) any more. That is why he decided to kill himself,” a police official who knew Newman said.
At the scene on Friday, as forensic investigations were under way and a pathology vehicle stood outside waiting to remove Newman’s body from the police station, several police officials gathered, visibly shocked by the death of their colleague.
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