Daily Sun (August 26 2015 )- JOSEFA MACIA, the father of murdered taxi driver Mido Macia, said they will never forgive the cops who killed his son.
He said whether the family gets money, or whether the killers go to jail will make no difference to them.
NO AMOUNT OF MONEY WILL BUY AWAY OUR PAIN, JOSEFA TOLD DAILY SUN.
The eight ex-cops from Daveyton, Ekurhuleni, who were accused of the killing, were convicted yesterday in the North Gauteng High Court. Speaking to the People’s Paper by telephone, Josefa said he did not know whether the cops would actually go to jail.
“I am far away in Mozambique; how will I know if these people will be released soon without our knowledge?” he said.
Mido was dragged behind a police van on 26 February 2013 and he died in custody some hours later.
If the brutal event had not been recorded on cellphone camera, it may have faded away as an unfortunate death of a civilian at the hands of cops. But the video was sent to Daily Sun and it went viral all over the world.
Initially, nine cops were charged, but one of them, Matome Walter Ramatlou (37), was acquitted.
The other accused who appeared before Judge Bert Bam were Meshack Malele (46), Thamsanqa Mgema (35), Percy Jonathan Mnisi (26), Bongumusa Mdluli (25), Sipho Sydwell Ngobeni (30), Lungisa Gwababa (31), Bongani Kolisi (27) and Linda Sololo (56).
They had all pleaded not guilty.
The state’s prosecutor in the case, Charles Mnisi, told the court that handcuffing Macia to the back of the police van and then dragging him behind it for about 200 metres was wrong.
“They had a legal, professional and moral obligation to stop the vehicle,” Mnisi said.
He said that none of the police officers had made any attempt to stop the vehicle when they realised that their suspect had become hooked up to the back of it.
Mnisi dismissed suggestions by the officers that the incident was simply a mistake or an act of negligence on their part.
He said they could have foreseen that dragging the deceased would injure him.
Macia had been arrested earlier that day after police confronted him over obstructing traffic with his taxi.
He was found dead on the floor of a holding cell wearing only his socks, underpants and a T-shirt.
He died of head and chest injuries. He had suffered bleeding on the brain and internal bleeding.
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