Tight security for top cop murder case
Security was tight at the Pretoria North Magistrate's Court on Wednesday morning ahead of an appearance by four men accused of killing a senior policeman.
Nine members of the police tactical response team, wielding rifles, were stationed inside the court. The four, accused of killing former Johannesburg police cluster commander Maj-Gen Thirani Maswanganyi, are scheduled to appear for a bail hearing.
Tshepo Mosai, 30, Roger Godfrey Moseki, 33, Ndaedzo Isaac Vele, 29, and Nditsheni Daniel Nefolovhodwe, 32, were arrested in June in connection with the murder.
Maswanganyi's body was found on June 17 in a field near Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, with his hands and feet bound. This followed a search launched after a police patrol found his Isuzu bakkie abandoned next to the R101. A police uniform and a police identification card were in the car. In the last court appearance on September 6, Moseki claimed he was tortured by police into admitting that the slain officer's wife was involved in the crime, the Saturday Star reported.
Moseki alleged he was nearly drowned with a bucket of water and assaulted by police. "They told me that I should admit the fact that I was aware that Maswanganyi's wife has hired us to kill the general but I could not do that because it was not true. I told them I don't even know who she is."
-Sapa