CAPE TOWN - A former public prosecutor at the Bellville Magistrate’s Court was sentenced to five years imprisonment in Cape Town on Friday.
Jonas Phosoko was convicted by the Bellville Commercial Crimes Court on charges of theft of a police docket and for attempting to defeat the administration of justice.
The theft carried a sentence of three years and the attempt to defeat the administration of justice two years.
Providing the details of the case, Western Cape National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the charges stemmed from matters which occurred in 2010 and 2011.
According to Ntabazalila, in June 2010, a male suspect was arrested at Freedom Farm F90 in Bellville, Cape Town, after he was found to be in possession of marijuana weighing 29,182kg.
It was found that Phosoko had stolen the docket from a colleague’s office. The prosecutor in the case found the docket to be missing and asked Phosoko, who denied taking the docket. This led to a delay in the case and Phosoko conveniently found the docket in a different courtroom.
The senior public prosecutor at the time, advocate Thango Phangalela, confronted the accused charged in the matter of the marijuana and found out that the accused and Phosoko were in cellphone contact with each other.
In a similar case, in January 2011 a motorist was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and was released on bail and warned to appear in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court.
Ntabazalila said the investigating officer in the matter sent the docket to court on January 25 and never received it back.
A search warrant was obtained and on the same day police searched Phosoko’s residence, where they found the said docket in his home.
“The NPA welcomes the sentence and as confirmation of its commitment to root out corruption,” Ntabazalila said.