Two Worcester police officials seek permission to appeal prison sentence for corruption
15:20 / 19 MAY 2016
CAPE TOWN, May 19 (ANA) – Two Worcester police officials who were effectively jailed for 10 months last month for corruption, are to request permission to appeal.
Their application for leave to appeal was scheduled on Thursday for June 24 in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg.
Elizabeth Messias and Riaan Hunt, both 34, were sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, to be followed by a period of house arrest which would cover the remainder of the five-year period of correctional supervision.
The application had been set for Thursday, by attorney Sakkie Kroukam for Messias.
However, the court’s newly-appointed legal aid attorney, Harley Cloete, for Hunt, told the court he needed additional information from the State, in order to prepare.
He said he had received a transcription of the trial record, but not copies of crucial exhibits.
Prosecutor, Xolile Jonas undertook to furnish Cloete with the exhibits without delay.
Messias and Hunt were sentenced for corruptly demanding R8,000 for the release of a confiscated truck back to the driver.
Messias, a constable previously based at Worcester, was suspended without salary after her arrest, but prior to being sentenced, had been reinstated and based at nearby Rawsonville.
Hunt, previously a reservist, and Messias’ partner at Worcester, resigned his job as a result of the case.
Both were released on R10 000 bail, pending the outcome of their application.
According to the charge sheet, the two intercepted a truck outside Worcester in August 2011, in search of counterfeit goods.
They found none, but Messias found a carton containing the drug KAT on the driver’s seat. They confiscated the vehicle, but released it and the carton back to the driver for the R8 000 bribe.
According to the charge sheet, Messias and Hunt were reported when they stopped the same truck three months later, and demanded money again.
At the time of sentence, the defence said correctional supervision, involving house arrest, but without imprisonment, would adequately meet the interests of society.
The state, however, countered that mere house arrest, without a short period in prison, would be too lenient, and leave the community with the wrong impression.
African News Agency