Pretoria - The police officer driving the SAPS van which dragged Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macia in February 2013, did not know that he had become entangled behind the vehicle, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Tuesday.
Defence attorney, Marius van Wyngaardt, representing the Daveyton police officers, said Macia was aggressive and at one point he seized a handgun from a police officer before he was disarmed.
He said Macia, 27, assaulted one of the police officers who had confronted him for parking on an illegal spot along Esselen Street in Daveyton.
Nine police officers - Meshack Malele, Thamsanqa Ngema, Percy Mnisi, Bongamusa Mdluli, Sipho Ngobeni, Lungisa Gwababa, Bongani Kolisi, Linda Sololo and Matome Ramatlou face murder charges relating to Macia’s death.
Wyngaardt told the court that the police officers were under serious attack from members of the Daveyton community and Macia’s fellow taxi drivers. He said a window of the police van was smashed by a brick and police officers were assaulted.
The attorney was cross-examining Lindiwe Tracy Ngwenya who maintained that she was with Macia during the fateful incident which degenerated into Macia’s untimely death.
Wyngaardt told the court that the police officers overpowered Macia and placed him in the van. As he attempted to exit the police van one end of the handcuff got “accidentally” entangled onto the bench in the van. The driver started to move.
Ngwenya disagreed with Wyngaardt. She said Macia was never placed inside the police truck. If Macia had been put inside the van, the officers must have locked up the doors, Ngwenya argued.
Wyngaardt said when other police officers who were at the scene realised that Macia was being dragged and the driver of the van was oblivious, they tried to assist Macia by lifting his legs.
“They let go of the legs after the van gained speed. One police officer got into another vehicle and started following the van, flickering his lights.
Wyngaardt said the driver of the van drove for around 100 metres without realising that Macia was being dragged. He said the police officers “were scared”, fearing for their safety and that of the police van.
“Accused number six will argue that when he was on the driver side of the van, he can remember that accused number seven [leaned] to that side and said something but he couldn’t hear what he was saying,” said Wyngaardt.
“Accused number six will also say he heard a shot, a firearm being fired (as he drove off with the police van). He was unaware that the deceased (Macia) was now hanging from the handcuff, at the back of the van. At no stage was accused number six aware that the deceased was being dragged at the back of the vehicle,” Wyngaardt argued.
Ngwenya said the driver had seen that Macia was tied to the bench before he started the van and drove off. She said the community members only started attacking the police officers after witnessing this “bad behaviour”.
ANA