[ad_1]
Richard Mdluli Photo: Greg Nicolson greg mdluli court
The Johannesburg High Court sentenced former Chief of Criminal Intelligence Richard Mdluli to five years in prison on charges of kidnapping and assault dating back to 1998. Mdluli immediately requested permission to appeal in an attempt to avoid wearing an orange jumpsuit, but his request was denied. .
Former Chief of Criminal Intelligence Richard Mdluli and his co-defendant Mthembeni Mthunzi have been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of kidnapping, assault and assault with intent to cause serious bodily harm, which occurred while Mdluli was commander of the Vosloorus Police Station in 1998 .
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng of the Southern Gauteng High Court dismissed Mdluli and Mthunzi’s requests for a non-custodial sentence, which they claimed would be more appropriate as they needed to support their families and were at risk of contracting Covid-19 in prison.
In handing down the sentence on Tuesday, the judge said he had considered imposing prison terms, a suspended sentence and even compensation to victims in the form of a fine.
“But the circumstances of this case because we are dealing with two high ranking police officers who abrogated the powers that the police normally have, but these powers were abused to such an extent that the effect was devastating for the victims and consequently, In my opinion, the only appropriate sentence under the circumstances is a custodial sentence, ”Mokgoatlheng said.
Mdluli and Mthunzi’s lawyers immediately released their request for permission to appeal after the sentence was passed, however it was rejected.
The court found Mdluli and Mthunzi guilty of kidnapping, assault and assault with intent to cause serious bodily harm in July 2020.
Mdluli was initially charged in 2011, two years after he was appointed Chief of Criminal Intelligence, before the NPA dropped the charges. Civil society groups fought for his reinstatement.
Mdluli and Mthunzi were found to have abused their positions as police officers in 1998 to track down, kidnap and assault Oupa Ramogibe. Mdluli’s wife under common law, Tshidi Buthelezi, was in a relationship and had married Ramogibe.
The jealous Mdluli went with Mthunzi to locate Buthelezi and Ramogibe. They visited Buthelezi’s friend Alice Manana in Vosloorus and forced her to reveal the couple’s location before finding the couple at Orange Farm and kidnapping and assaulting Ramogibe.
Ramogibe was shot dead in 1999; Mdluli was originally a suspect in the murder, but the charges were dropped. Buthelezi died shortly after of natural causes.
“The accused knew his actions and their consequences. The court has a duty to pass an appropriate sentence that equally balances the defendant’s personal circumstances, the seriousness of the crime and the interests of society, ”Judge Mokgoatlheng said when he began to deliver the sentence on Monday.
Mdluli and Mthunzi argued that a prison sentence would limit their abilities to support their dependents, but Mokgoatlheng said neither of them could claim to be destitute. Mdluli has a gross pension of R60,000 per month and Mthunzi has an income of approximately R40,000, his SAPS pension combined with earnings from an Uber vehicle.
“In both cases, the financial means available to the defendants as South African police pensioners appear to be sufficient for the family,” Mokgoatlheng said.
He rejected his arguments about Covid-19, saying that society in general is at risk of infection and that prisons have taken precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and offer medical assistance to those in need.
Mdluli, who argued that the accusations against him were fabricated, showed no remorse, the judge said. He continued to deny the accusations against him throughout the trial.
“There is no evidence, not a shred of evidence that the state fabricated, invented, embedded and cooked evidence against defendants number one and two,” the judge said.
Mdluli was one of the keys of former president Jacob Zuma defenders in the security and justice sectors after his appointment in 2009. He also faces charges of fraud, corruption, theft and misappropriation of the purposes of justice for allegedly looting the Crime Intelligence secret service account, which will be presented in the High Court of Tshwane on November 10, 2020.
Mdluli was suspended from Crime Intelligence after being indicted in 2011, but was briefly reinstated once the charges were dropped. The civil society group Freedom Under Law was one of the organizations that went to court to have its suspension reimposed in 2012.
“Today’s ruling is an important claim to the rule of law in the sense that one of South Africa’s top police officers has finally been held accountable for some of the crimes he has committed,” Freedom Under Law said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It is food for thought that if Freedom Under Law, a member of a group of civil society watchdogs active in this way, had not questioned the decisions to drop the charges and keep the former Mdluli at his desk, his impunity would be assured. . ” DM
