Daily Sun (August 14 2013) - COPS did everything possible to PROTECT Mozambican Mido Macia from getting injured! And a witness who said police assaulted Macia was "lying".
THIS WAS WHAT A SENIOR COP TOLD THE BENONI MAGISTRATES COURT YESTERDAY.
The death of Macia made world headlines in March after Daily Sun published a reader's horrifying video of Macia being manhandled, handcuffed to the back of a police van, and dragged hundreds of metres through the streets of Daveyton, Ekurhuleni. The nine cops accused of Macia's murder, who have been in custody for nearly six months, were granted bail of R5 000 each by Magistrate Sam Makamu at the end of yesterday's hearing.
Earlier one of the accused, Warrant Officer Meshack Malele, told the court when cops realised that Mido's legs were hanging outside the police van they lifted them up to avoid injuries. But the driver didn't see what was happening and drove away because people were stoning the van. Malele told the court he and a colleague had wanted to arrest Mido for obstructing traffic but he resisted.
"He resisted arrest and was violent. He managed to disarm me and I called for back-up," he said. Malele said they managed to overpower Mido. He admitted that Mido was not properly handcuffed because he was fighting with police before he was bundled into the back of the police van.
Said Malele: "He kicked the door open and when we tried to get him back inside one of the community members helped him to open the door. The driver decided to drive away and "that is when some cops lifted his legs to save him from injuries."
He said taxi marshal Julius Skhosana's claim that Macia was assaulted by cops at the scene was a lie. The nine cops are Malele (45), Thamsanqa Ngema (35), Motome Ramatlou (37), Percy Mnisi (26), Bongumusa Mdluli (25), Sipho Ngobeni (30), Lungisa Gwababa (31), Bongani Kolisi (27) and Linda Sololo (56).
The new bail bid brought yesterday was on the basis that they had new facts.
) They argued that Mido died three hours after they had booked him into the police cells.
) They said at the time of his death he was under the supervision of cops who work at the cells.
The other eight accused submitted affidavits instead of taking the stand. But they all blamed police at the cop shop holding cells for not calling an ambulance in time. They said they should be released on bail because they were not present when Mido died.
Malele's lawyer, Lokhimbar Dikotope, tried to object to certain questions by the prosecutor because he felt they were bordering on questioning the merits of the case. Magistrate Makamu told him: "You have opened a can of worms."
The video published by Daily Sun went viral and was shown on TV all around the world. Two hours after the dragging horror, Macia was found dead in a pool of blood in a police cell. Post mortem results revealed that he died of hypoxia (lack of oxygen).
Lawyers for the nine men argued that there was no evidence showing that what the accused did led to Mido's death. The nine cops were granted R5 000 bail each.
Magistrate Sam Makamu said the investigation was complete and there were no longer people protesting outside the court. Makamu said: "Interfering with evidence is very limited."
He said he was satisfied that the cops gave addresses that were far away from Daveyton, where the incident happened. The cops will have to notify the investigating officer if they wish to go outside Gauteng and they were told not to interfere with witnesses.
The trial will start on 11 November in Delmas Circuit Court.
Mido's landlady, Badanisile Ngwenya, said she was not happy with the decision but will respect it. "But even if they were kept inside it would not bring him (Mido) back. They are going back to their families and Mido is dead," she said.
See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....
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