Durban - THE SAPS’s complacent and lackadaisical record-keeping and management of exhibits, especially weapons, ammunition and explosives, potentially linked to serious criminal investigations, were laid bare during a court hearing this week.
Daniel Reynecke, a former policeman and expert marksman, was convicted on various counts of illegally possessing firearms and ammunition that were meant for the SAPS’s storage facilities. Some of the exhibits dated back to criminal investigations from the 1990s.
But police only realised they were missing nearly 20 years later, when a bag of firearms and explosives were found at the Amanzimtoti Golf Course in 2014.
Reynecke, 64, became the prime subject of the investigation after the find because records showed he had removed two of the items (guns) contained in the bag, which were in SAPS storage facilities previously.
Further investigations revealed he had 39 firearms locked in his office safe, including two unlicensed guns, and more police exhibits at his home.
Magistrate Anand Maharaj presided over the matter at the Durban Regional Court, and the prosecution was led by advocates Yoliswa Nyakata and Annelize Harrison. Reynecke, who had more than 40 years’ service as a policeman was a detective in the old murder and robbery unit, worked extensively in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
He resigned in 2018 as a member of the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) unit investigator, based in Durban, the same year he was charged. Colonel Herbert Heap, from the Hawks’ Pretoria branch, led the investigation after the bag was found.
Heap conducted an audit of SAPS 13 records at 71 police stations that Reynecke had association with. Heap was also responsible for the certified search and seizure missions at Reynecke’s home and workplace.
The charges against Reynecke were five counts of theft related to his unlawful possession of the firearms booked out from various police stations but not returned.
Two counts of possession of prohibited firearms stemmed from the two guns with erased serial numbers found during a search at his Durban office, among other exhibits.
The unlawful possession of ammunition and explosives charges resulted from the search of his home.
He was charged for the loss of a firearm that he claimed he handed for destruction at SAPS-Vryheid, but there were no supporting records. Reynecke was acquitted on one count of theft because the court believed it was probable that he asked a colleague to return a semi-automatic pistol to Pongola SAPS, after a Dundee court meeting.
Maharaj did not convict him on his failure to lock away a revolver in a safe after considering that Reynecke had no alternative but to place it in the boot of his car, when he attended a SAPS disciplinary hearing. He was not convicted for possessing explosives because the court found he was incorrectly charged on this count.
The two charges related to his possession of an ACP Derringer revolver fell away as it was in accordance with the Firearms Control Act.
Reynecke pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges he faced but was convicted on eight. During his testimony, Reynecke denied stealing firearms but returned them to his superiors when he transferred to Durban in 2006. He said he kept the explosive devices and ammunition in case they were needed for work purposes. He believed his prosecution was the result of a vendetta some work colleagues had against him.
Reynecke could not explain why he did not take the weapons for ballistics tests, as he lodged as the purpose for their removal, and he did not know how exhibits were found near his home. He said he had no knowledge how two unlicensed firearms were found in his safe. Lieutenant-Colonel Anton Booysens, who was tasked with investigating the Amanzimtoti find, testified as Reynecke’s witness.
He said he found difficulty investigating because records were missing, and liaised with Heap. Booysens recommended that due to a lack of proper record keeping registers there was no chance of a successful prosecution against Reynecke.
Maharaj found that Booysens’ evidence generally contradicting Reynecke’s version and could not place much reliance on it. One aspect was Booysens saying Reynecke told him in 2015 that the firearms in question were handed back to his superiors and, one other, was handed to a colleague in Dundee. Reynecke testified he only fully understood the charges when he appeared in court in 2018.
“This begs the question if in 2015 Reynecke could disclose this version to Booysen, then why did he not share this with Heap?” Maharaj was puzzled at how the exhibits got to the golf course in 2014 if they were handed in between 2003 and 2006, according to Reynecke.
He also noticed that Reynecke disputed the signatures confirming him booking out exhibits in his submissions to the prosecuting team, but then conceded that he did sign, which was also confirmed by a handwriting expert. Based on evidence in court, Maharaj refuted Reynecke’s assertion that his colleagues had an “axe to grind” with him.
Maharaj said Reynecke had no valid reason to be in possession of the ammunition. He said outstanding was “complacency and lackadaisical attitude” of the police officers at various police stations, who were tasked with record-keeping. Maharaj called on the provincial police commissioner and the State to probe this further before adjourning.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE