Pretoria man points finger at police for alleged assault

The Brooklyn man accused of killing his wife claims he was assaulted by police while in custody, Pretoria East Rekord reports.

Prem Besdeo appeared in the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court on Thursday on charges of murder, defeating the ends of justice and perjury.

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Basdeo claimed that since his arrest on June 14, he had suffered the worst police treatment.

His lawyer, Piet Pistorius, said Basdeo needed medical attention after he was slapped by a Brooklyn police officer.

“My client is in pain, suffering the consequences of the slap on his face, and everyone can see that his face is swollen,” Pistorius told the court.

But the prosecutor denied this saying there was no way the accused was assaulted by the police, as he could not identify the police officers who allegedly assaulted him.

“There is no way that Mr Basdeo was assaulted, a man who is assaulted can identify the perpetrators, but Mr Basdeo could not. This shows us that he was not assaulted by police,”  said Sipho Letswalo.

Pistorius also accused the Brooklyn police of illegally trying to obtain information from his client and consequently, his client would not speak to the police or participate in any further investigation “for now”.

He said his client was coerced into pointing out “the crime scene”.

The magistrate ruled that Basdeo be sent for medical assessment.

Basdeo’s wife, Dawn went missing on June 8 when she left home for a hospital.

She never arrived at the hospital or returned home.

Brooklyn police said they had reason to believe that she was murdered and that her husband was involved.

Basdeo reported his wife missing, which police said was a lie.

The case was postponed, with the next court date yet to be announced.

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