BELFAST – A 34-year-old police constable who is also detective at Mhluzi police station, recently appeared before the Belfast Magistrate’s Court on charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH), drunken driving, reckless and/ negligent driving, as well as possession of a firearm and ammunition while under the influence of alcohol.
Const Joel Moloto’s appearance follows an incident where the Provincial Commissioner of the in Mpumalanga, Lt Gen (Adv) Mark Magadlela spotted a marked vehicle belonging to Mhluzi Police Station near Middelburg parked at a liquor outlet in Belfast. When Magadlela went to enquire about the vehicle, he noticed a man who was carrying beers in his hands approaching the vehicle. He then approached the man and introduced himself as the Provincial Commissioner of police in Mpumalanga and asked the man what he was doing with a state-owned vehicle on a Sunday and at a liquor outlet far away from its precinct.
According to a statement form Magadlela’s office, he observed that there was a woman in the very same vehicle and when he questioned her whether she was a police official or a complainant the woman said she was sorry and left the car.
“The constable then decided to follow the woman and at that time, Magadlela saw that the vehicle’s keys were hanging in the ignition. He then removed them. Then the constable returned and forcefully took them from his hands, in the process Magadlela sustained an injury on one of his fingers. Seeing that the Moloto was armed with a firearm, Magadlela decided to retreat from him and instead followed him until at Mhluzi SAPS which is more than sixty kilometres from Belfast,”reads the statement.
An internal investigation against the member was instituted and criminal charges were also pressed against Moloto hence his arrest on Friday, 29 May 2015.
Moloto was granted R1 000 bail and the case postponed to 10 July 2015, pending further investigation.
