Cape Town – A self-confessed gangster, charged with the illegal possession of a loaded semi-automatic pistol, claimed in court on Thursday that police "planted" the pistol in his hand.
The court heard also that irate residents of a gang-ridden area of Cape Town had pelted police with stones when two officials tried to arrest the gangster. With the assistance of reinforcements, police managed nevertheless to arrest the suspect, the court heard.
This was police testimony in the Goodwood District Court, where magistrate Sean Lea refused bail for self-confessed gangster Robin Tieties, 26.
The incident happened last month and Tieties faces charges of possession of a semi-automatic pistol and ammunition. Tieties openly confessed in court that he became a member of the 26s prison gang whilst in jail for a drug-related offence. He was still a 26s gangster, he told the court. But he alleged that the police "planted" the gun on him when they arrested him.
He said: "I was arrested and the police pushed a gun into my hand." The magistrate asked: "So, of all the hundreds of gangsters roaming the streets, the police picked on you to plant the firearm and framed you?" Tieties insisted that this was what in fact happened.
A police official told the court: "The accused has a pending case from October last year, for the illegal possession of a firearm. "This was the second time, in a matter of a few months, that he was found in illegal possession of a firearm."
The official said the 26s and 28s gangs moved around in the Uitsig area where Tieties lives and that police struggle to contain crime in the area. He added: "We struggle with the gangs, and shots are fired daily."
He said police were doing their best, in the interests of justice and the community, to arrest the gangsters.
The witness said there were only four or five police officials to patrol the entire Uitsig area. He said two police officials on patrol on December 18 approached a suspicious group of people, including the accused.
The accused fled when he noticed the police, but the police caught him and found the pistol in his trouser pocket.
The magistrate said the purpose of bail was to enable arrested persons to continue with their lawful daily activities – "not unlawful activities". He said Uitsig was more like a war zone than a residential area and it was likely that Tieties's release on bail would cause an outcry in the community.
For this reason, it was not in the interests of justice, or the community, to release him on bail, the magistrate ruled.