SANDF member accuses cops of torture

27 October 2010, 00:10
A senior accountant in the SA National Defence Force in Pretoria is claiming R950 000 in damages from the SANDF and from the police, claiming he was abducted by colleagues and severely tortured by the police after he was falsely accused of stealing $75 000.
Simphiwe Wilfred Zondi said in papers before the Pretoria High Court that on September 10, 2004, he had been “abducted” from his office at the Poyntons Building in Church Street by a Major Petzer and a Flight Sergeant Masidi and taken to the offices of the police Serious and Violent Crimes Unit.
He said the two SANDF members handed him over
to the police who questioned him about a housebreaking and theft during which the money apparently disappeared.
“During questioning the police demanded I take off all my clothes, except for my underpants. They demanded I sit on a chair (and) tied my arms with brown tape to the chair (and) my feet together with rope.”
“The police poured water all over me and placed a tyre around my neck and tried to suffocate me on numerous occasions while still pouring water over me.
“They hit me with their open hands on several occasions and they also hit me with a plastic pipe.”
Zondi said hours later the two SANDF officials fetched him and dropped him off in a park in Danville. The two again took him “against his will” a few days later and demanded he undergo a polygraph test, he said.
He was arrested three days later at work on charges of housebreaking and theft of $75 000.
“They took me to my house and searched it before handing me over to the police.”
Zondi said he had been held in custody at the Pretoria Local Prison.
He appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court several times and was eventually granted R5 000 bail.
His case was postponed a few times before all the charges were dropped against him nearly a year later.
He has instituted eight different claims totalling R950 000. His claims include R100 000 each for his alleged abduction and assault and R200 000 for “illegally depriving him of his liberty.”
He said the two SANDF members who “abducted” him, had a duty to stop the police from torturing him and had forced him to undergo a lie detector test. Zondi also said he was arrested while there was no real suspicion he had committed a crime.
The SANDF said its two officials had a right to arrest Zondi, as they suspected him of housebreaking and theft. It was denied that Zondi was ever assaulted or tortured.
No trial date has yet been set. - Pretoria News

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Comments by sonny

A case of the pot calling the kettle Black?