Three South African Police Service members appeared in the Wynberg Regional Court on Thursday on charges of torture.
One of the three police officers on trial for the assault of a barber during a raid at his workplace in Mowbray in 2023 intends to plead guilty to the charge of torture. However, proceedings could not continue at the Wynberg Regional Court in Cape Town on Thursday because the officer’s plea proposal had gone missing.
At the trio’s last appearance in March, lawyers for Constable Jermaine Conradie asked Magistrate Karel Meyer for a postponement in order to submit a proposal to the court for a plea agreement. Conradie intends to plead guilty.
On Thursday, one of Conradie’s lawyers told Meyer that their client had supplied two documents to the state in April, but that when they arrived at court today these could not be found.
Before postponing the matter again, a visibly irritated Meyer said, “We’ve postponed from March till now. Now you want to postpone again. Why didn’t we know before today that the documents are nowhere to be found? Why was this only known this morning? This will now delay the process.”
Conradie is accused, alongside Colonel Delmore Manuel and Constable Leigh-Ann Maroon, of assaulting Juma Igiranieza, a barber, during a raid at his workplace, Perfect Touch Boutique and Salon, in Mowbray on 7 November 2023.
GroundUp published CCTV footage on 10 November that year showing several officers, one in plain clothes, assaulting Igiranieza. In the footage, at least two officers participated directly in the assault, while other officers looked on. Igiranieza was pummelled, struck repeatedly with a wooden object, and smothered with plastic.
Igiranieza sustained a laceration of the right eyebrow, a tear on the lower lip and swelling around the left jaw, according to the report of his medical examination after the assault. He was at court on Wednesday but did not go into the courtroom.
The three officers were arrested on 22 April 2024, and are currently out on R2,000 bail each.
Conradie, now stationed in Grabouw, will appear separately from Manuel and Maroon due to the plea agreement. Meyer granted two separate postponements on Thursday. Conradie is expected back in court on 11 July while Manuel and Maroon on 14 August.
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