Cape Town - A police officer stationed in Grassy Park has been found guilty of corruption charges for his part in arranging deals with a well-known drug dealer.
On Tuesday, magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg convicted Ricardo Abrahams, a former constable, on two charges of corruption and acquitted him on drug dealing charges in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Throughout the trial Abrahams had maintained that he had not been arranging drug deals but that he was acting as the middleman in the sale of Nike Jordan takkies at a discounted fee. Investigations started following complaints about police officials at the station involved in corruption.
An undercover police agent had set out to investigate – gathering information and arranging meetings to identify suspected officials. Abrahams was arrested on February 22, 2012.
Prosecutor Simon Leope argued that on more than one occasion Abrahams had received money which he had used for corrupt activities.
Abrahams pleaded not guilty and testified in his defence, denying allegations that he had arranged drug deals between the police agent and a known drug dealer, Leonard Cupido, known as Linnie.
The State showed video and audio recordings and called several witnesses including the undercover agent and the investigating officer to testify. The video footage showed two separate incidents in 2011 when Abrahams had met the agent.
The first incident, which took place on November 27, involved 5g of tik at a Nandos outlet in Grassy Park, and the second, in December involved 10g of tik at a petrol station.
Abrahams had used a marked police vehicle during the meetings and was in police uniform.
Sonnenberg noted that Abrahams had never been found to be in possession of marked money that the agent had given him and he was not involved in handing over the tik to anyone.
Abrahams’s lawyer, Dieter Oosthuizen, said the video and audio footage were of poor quality and Abrahams had denied he was the officer in the video recording. Abrahams said the money given to him was for the takkies and not for illegal activities.
In her judgment, Sonnenberg questioned why Abrahams would arrange to meet the agent away from the police station; why there were no discussions about the colour or other details of the takkies. She said Abrahams’ version was improbable.
The case is expected to continue on Thursday.
Cape Argus