Police detective on the run following death of suspect in custody

A police detective from Barkley East Police Station in the Eastern Cape has been arrested but another is on the run following the death of a detainee in police custody.

This was announced on Saturday by the Independent Police Investigating Directorate (Ipid).

“While Ipid has managed to arrest a 28 year old police detective from Barkley East Police Station, the other suspect is still on the run,” said the directorate’s spokesperson Ndileka Cola.

She said that the 25 year old deceased was allegedly detained in Barkley East for a case of murder he allegedly committed in Cape Town back in 2020. He was arrested on Tuesday last week in Eastern Cape.

“On Wednesday, the suspect (police detective) who is currently behind bars, together with three other police officials, a stock theft member, a uniformed member who was allegedly on leave on the day as well as the member of the Mounted Unit booked the deceased suspect out for investigation at 09:30 a.m,” Cola explained.

“As alleged, they took the deceased suspect to the Detectives offices which are nearby the police station to interrogate him.”

Cola said that the two suspects, the Detective and the uniformed police officer that booked out the deceased out in the morning brought him back to the police station around in the afternoon.

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She said that the charge office commander allegedly noticed that the deceased could not walk and was very weak, as the two suspected police officers assisted him to walk to his cell.

“As such the commander documented his condition.”

“During the shift handover, same hour, the suspect was found dead in his police cell.”

One of the suspects was arrested on Friday, and was charged for murder while the other remains at large.

“The suspect has been arrested by IPID and he will appear in Elliot Magistrate Court for murder charger on Monday 14 June 2021 whilst the other suspect is still at large,” said Cola.