Honeydew cops accused of murder separated suspects, court hears

The Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court has heard how police officers separated two suspects, taking one to another police station, after they were allegedly beaten in the cells of the Honeydew police station on October 19. One of the detained suspects later died.

“Don’t you find it odd that the one of the accused is taken to Randburg and the other remains in Honeydew?” prosecutor Paseka Temeki asked one of the accused, Constable Rudzani Marumo, 36, on Wednesday.

Marumo responded: “I was not there.”

He and his two co-accused, who are also his colleagues, were appearing in court for a formal bail application on charges of murder, attempted murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and defeating the ends of justice.

Another co-accused in the case was granted bail on the day he was arrested – October 19.

Marumo has pleaded not guilty to all the charges he is facing.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) arrested the four officers after it was found that they had allegedly continuously punched and kicked the men following their arrest. One of the men eventually fell to the ground while still in handcuffs, News24 reported.

“We cannot say why the suspects were separated at this stage, but for now it is our suspicion that the survivor was removed and taken to another police station [Randburg] because they might have realised that the deceased was in a very serious conditions, we are not sure,” Ipid spokesperson Sontaga Seisa told News24 outside the court.

“We are confident that our investigation will reveal why. We are still waiting for the post-mortem results which will give us an indication of the cause of death,” he added

Ipid could not confirm if Honeydew’s police cells had CCTV footage or whether it was functional or not.

Marumo earlier told the court that when the two suspects were detained in the cells, they had no injuries and were not bleeding.

He claimed that he does not know what happened to the deceased and second suspect.

Cross-examination continues on Thursday.

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