Durban - The 27 remaining “Cato Manor” policemen who are still facing charges of racketeering, murder and robbery are to launch a court application next month which, if successful, will substantially weaken the State’s case against them and could possibly result in charges being withdrawn.
When they made yet another appearance in the Durban High Court on Tuesday on charges relating to allegations that they operated as a “death squad”, their attorney, Carl van der Merwe, said the application would be served on the State by the end of July. While he did not go into detail, it is believed it will be similar to the successful application brought by their former co-accused, KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major-General Johan Booysen, challenging the sanctioning of his prosecution on racketeering charges by then acting director of public prosecutions, Nomgcobo Jiba.
Jiba has now been charged criminally with fraud and perjury following the ruling by Durban High Court Judge Trevor Gorven that she had no evidence before her to sign the certificate required when proceeding with a prosecution on racketeering. Jiba, in opposing the application, claimed to have relied on four statements. Two were by Colonel Rajan Aiyer, which the judge said concerned only “office politics”, with one of them only made after her decision to authorise the prosecution.
Another, by former reservist Aris Danikas had still not been signed or dated and its contents did not cover the period dealt with in the indictment. The final one did not implicate Booysen in any offence.
The men were all arrested in 2012 and have been on suspension with full pay ever since. It is believed the application may also challenge the State’s right to use statements the accused made after the alleged crimes, at a time when they were not suspects nor under investigation and were unaware that they would be used in a trial as evidence against them. They will all appear in court again in August when it is expected that a judge will be appointed to hear the application.
Booysen was also cleared of any wrongdoing at a disciplinary hearing and is now back at work.
The Mercury