Selective policing

Shibal

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I wonder what's behind this perp enjoying protection from the police?


http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/alleged-killer-driver-still-at-large-1.1086887
Alleged killer driver still at large

Police have yet to arrest a man who hit the back of a small car at high speed on the N2, leaving two women dead, and then fled.

The incident occurred six days ago.

The police say they are “in the process of applying” for a warrant for the man’s arrest and that he has told the investigating officer that he will deal with them through his lawyer.

Estelle Brigando, 50, who served as chief sacristan at St Paul’s Catholic Church in Somerset West, was declared dead at the scene of the crash in the early hours of Youth Day last Thursday.

Courtney Moore, 18, a matric pupil at Parel Vallei High School in Somerset West, died in hospital hours later after sustaining horrific injuries.

Brigando’s two teenage daughters escaped injury.

Together with some of her closest friends, Moore had been due to fly to Italy to compete in an international dance eisteddfod on Sunday night.

Instead, her family bade her an emotional farewell at her funeral on Tuesday.

Brigando’s funeral will be held today.

The tragedy unfolded just past the airport near the R300 turn-off, when a Mercedes-Benz C-Class Kompressor reportedly smashed into the back of a Toyota Yaris travelling in the direction of Somerset West.

Brigando had taken her elder daughter and Moore to take part in a modern dancing show in Claremont.

They were accompanied by her younger daughter, a pupil at Rhenish Girls’ High in Stellenbosch.

They were travelling home at about 1.30am when the crash happened.

According to a source, the Mercedes, travelling at high speed, hit the Toyota from behind and “smashed it off the road”.

The Toyota had been travelling in the “slow lane” - the left-hand lane - when it was hit.

Brigando’s elder daughter said their car had spun, then rolled before landing on its wheels.

Moore’s father, medical doctor Ralph Moore, who practises in Strand, said last night that he had arrived at his daughter’s hospital bedside just after 2am.

“In medical terms she was brain dead. I told her not to hold on… and within minutes she was gone,” the teen’s traumatised father said.

“She had the world at her feet… We are coping, but only by the grace of God.”

When the Cape Argus began seeking information about the incident, it was established that the driver of the vehicle was still a free man, six days after the incident.

Police spokesman November Filander said in an initial e-mailed report on Tuesday morning: “When police arrived at the scene, the driver of the Mercedes was nowhere to be found. A man who claimed to be the father of the driver and owner of the car, came to fetch the Mercedes. No one is arrested as yet.”

The Cape Argus asked why the driver had not been sought and arrested for leaving the scene of an accident in which there were fatalities, which is a criminal offence.

The paper also sought to establish why the car had been released when it was potentially evidence in a crime in which two women had died.

Filander’s response was: “Detectives still need to obtain further statements from the driver of the vehicle and therefore cannot issue a warrant of arrest at this stage.”

Late on Tuesday afternoon, Filander said: “According to the investigating officer, he got hold of the alleged suspect who indicated that he would liaise with police through his lawyer. Police are in the process of applying for a warrant for his arrest.”

Independent sources with expert knowledge of the criminal justice system described the non-arrest of the driver over the past six days as “bizarre”.
 
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It is bizzarre... you can easily be locked up for an unpaid speeding fine at a roadblock, but you can kill two people by colliding with them in an accident and then you can walk free...

This was most likely a well-connected ANC candidate... no other explanation is believable...
 
That seems fairly likely. Being well connected in almost any country will get you special treatment.
 
Thats a sad story :( If I killed someone in a car accident I wouldn't be able to live with myself.
 
It is bizzarre... you can easily be locked up for an unpaid speeding fine at a roadblock, but you can kill two people by colliding with them in an accident and then you can walk free...

No actually you can't. Not legally. You can only be arrested if you failed to appear at the set court date which you were told off via registered post, and a judge has issued an arrest warrant. The arresting police will then also have to be able to show you the arrest warrant and the clear reasons for arrest at the site of arrest. Otherwise the arrest is illegal and you will soon be one of those who get paid by a slice of the 2Bn they paid out annually.

They are still waiting for the arrest warrant in this accident article. Seems fine to me, even though it is a shame that it has taken this long. They can't arrest the person without the arrest warrant for the exact same reasons above.
 
Almost the same thing happened to one of my close friends. His father was riding his bicycle in the yellow portion of a 2 lane dual carriage way. speed limit of 70kph. He was training at like 5.30 in the morning. A drunk kid in his father's BMW came screaming down the road from behind, in his drunken state, he drifted into the yellow lane and hit my friends dad from behind. Some other cyclists were on the other side of the road and saw it happen. They estimated his speed at between 160 and 200 kph. They all shot across and prevented him from leaving the scene until the police got there. They all testified that he was clearly drunk, alcohol on his breath etc... They all testified to the insane speed that he was driving at. They all gave these statements to the cops, about 8 individual statements.

The bloodwork has since been lost, and in 4.5 years, no sentencing has been carried out. A simple payoff to the local police department made the bloodwork go bye bye, and another to the Magistrates office got them to make up some rubbish story that the arresting officer is critically ill and so cannot testify in court.

Sorry to say, but its the norm in SA. You cannot expect the police to be on your side. I feel really sad for the families involved here. I guarantee that even if an arrest is made, this case will not go further than wasted days in court. This family's troubles and heartache have just begun. SA justice department will see to that.
 
Two words "Red Tape"

By this I mean that the members of the SAPS have to ensure that all the required procedures are followed and that all the legal requirements are met.

They have to be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the man in question was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident.

This chap has lawyered up so the police have to tread carefully or risk jeopardizing the case.

While this issue may seem simple to us legal it is a minefield
 
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They are still waiting for the arrest warrant in this accident article. Seems fine to me, even though it is a shame that it has taken this long. They can't arrest the person without the arrest warrant for the exact same reasons above.
I'm no law expert, but surely in the case of a hit and run, the police arrest the perp ASAP (without a warrant) and bring him before a magistrate who then decides the bail conditions ?

I'm confident that we'll soon hear the details of the perp and then understand why they are enjoying this preferential treatment from the police. Most likely an ANC comrade.
 
Almost the same thing happened to one of my close friends. His father was riding his bicycle in the yellow portion of a 2 lane dual carriage way. speed limit of 70kph. He was training at like 5.30 in the morning. A drunk kid in his father's BMW came screaming down the road from behind, in his drunken state, he drifted into the yellow lane and hit my friends dad from behind. Some other cyclists were on the other side of the road and saw it happen. They estimated his speed at between 160 and 200 kph. They all shot across and prevented him from leaving the scene until the police got there. They all testified that he was clearly drunk, alcohol on his breath etc... They all testified to the insane speed that he was driving at. They all gave these statements to the cops, about 8 individual statements.

The bloodwork has since been lost, and in 4.5 years, no sentencing has been carried out. A simple payoff to the local police department made the bloodwork go bye bye, and another to the Magistrates office got them to make up some rubbish story that the arresting officer is critically ill and so cannot testify in court.

Sorry to say, but its the norm in SA. You cannot expect the police to be on your side. I feel really sad for the families involved here. I guarantee that even if an arrest is made, this case will not go further than wasted days in court. This family's troubles and heartache have just begun. SA justice department will see to that.

This is tragic, but I disagree with you saying that the police are not on your side. The guys on the ground are on your side, they took 8 statements which tell’s me that they were been very thorough and wanted to nail the ******* in question.

The problems arise when it hits the courts as the dockets get hit back and forth between the prosecutors and detectives to fulfill all the legal requirements.

As for the sentencing that is nothing new I have been called to testify in clear-cut cases 5 years after I arrested the person.

The courts need a kick up the ass
 
I'm no law expert, but surely in the case of a hit and run, the police arrest the perp ASAP (without a warrant) and bring him before a magistrate who then decides the bail conditions ?

I'm confident that we'll soon hear the details of the perp and then understand why they are enjoying this preferential treatment from the police. Most likely an ANC comrade.

They can only do this if the suspect was still at the scene and was positively identified as the driver; since he fled before the police arrived it complicates things especially with a lawyer getting involved
 
This is tragic, but I disagree with you saying that the police are not on your side. The guys on the ground are on your side, they took 8 statements which tell’s me that they were been very thorough and wanted to nail the ******* in question.

The problems arise when it hits the courts as the dockets get hit back and forth between the prosecutors and detectives to fulfill all the legal requirements.

As for the sentencing that is nothing new I have been called to testify in clear-cut cases 5 years after I arrested the person.

The courts need a kick up the ass

I must agree that the courts need a swift boot to the rear. The problem is also that the cops took bribes to lose the bloodwork. The problem is that the whole system is screwed not just the courts or just the cops. You sound like the good type of cop, if you are infact one. My heart goes out to you because you are the 1 in a thousand guy that might want to do things right, but you are in a system where everything works against you.

Maybe its the defeatist in me, but I would have quit a long time ago. I understand the whole idea of changing the system from the inside etc.... But the problem with a totally corrupt system, is that you will never gain enough influence with the powers that be, to move up high enough in the ranks to make a change. When the corrupt powers that be, catch a whiff that you want to do things right, they will copblock your career.
Same rule applies to the courts. Anybody with a mind to change the corrupt ways will be blocked long before they amass enough influence to change anything.

They will only allow like minded individuals to climb their ranks.
 
As for the sentencing that is nothing new I have been called to testify in clear-cut cases 5 years after I arrested the person.

How do they expect people to remember stuff 5yrs after the fact when you deal with 100's of arrests?
 
Two words "Red Tape"

By this I mean that the members of the SAPS have to ensure that all the required procedures are followed and that all the legal requirements are met.

They have to be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the man in question was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident.

This chap has lawyered up so the police have to tread carefully or risk jeopardizing the case.

While this issue may seem simple to us legal it is a minefield

Riiight... but if you are standing next to someone who is drinking a beer in public [or just taking a photo or 2] you can be arrested on the spot. :rolleyes:
While I'm fully in support of police applying the letter of the law, it just seems like there is very little consistency in that application lately
 
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I must agree that the courts need a swift boot to the rear. The problem is also that the cops took bribes to lose the bloodwork. The problem is that the whole system is screwed not just the courts or just the cops. You sound like the good type of cop, if you are infact one. My heart goes out to you because you are the 1 in a thousand guy that might want to do things right, but you are in a system where everything works against you.

Maybe its the defeatist in me, but I would have quit a long time ago. I understand the whole idea of changing the system from the inside etc.... But the problem with a totally corrupt system, is that you will never gain enough influence with the powers that be, to move up high enough in the ranks to make a change. When the corrupt powers that be, catch a whiff that you want to do things right, they will copblock your career.
Same rule applies to the courts. Anybody with a mind to change the corrupt ways will be blocked long before they amass enough influence to change anything.

They will only allow like minded individuals to climb their ranks.

We need some weed killer sprayed on the SAPS and the courts to get rid of all the criminal elements.

I was a reservist since 2001 and I resigned at the end of 2009 when my first child was born, there just wasn’t enough time for work, family and reservists so resigned. Still miss it though and I have plenty of friends who are still involved.

As for the 1 in a 1000, it is a lot more than that. In all my years I only met a handful of corrupt cops and of these we arrested and charged most of them.

It is more involved than saying that the system is corrupt, from top to bottom it is made up of the good, the bad and those to whom it is just a job.

The changes to the ICD and all the reports of corrupt cops been arrested gives me hope that they are trying to fix the system
 
We need some weed killer sprayed on the SAPS and the courts to get rid of all the criminal elements.

I was a reservist since 2001 and I resigned at the end of 2009 when my first child was born, there just wasn’t enough time for work, family and reservists so resigned. Still miss it though and I have plenty of friends who are still involved.

As for the 1 in a 1000, it is a lot more than that. In all my years I only met a handful of corrupt cops and of these we arrested and charged most of them.

It is more involved than saying that the system is corrupt, from top to bottom it is made up of the good, the bad and those to whom it is just a job.

The changes to the ICD and all the reports of corrupt cops been arrested gives me hope that they are trying to fix the system

With Bheki Cele in charge, the chances are slim to nothing.
 
How do they expect people to remember stuff 5yrs after the fact when you deal with 100's of arrests?

You have to go through your statement and pocket book entries to refresh your memory.
 
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