In confirming the dismissal of two police officers - the one who simply closed an investigation docket “due to lack of a suspect” and the other being a commander who simply agreed with the decision to close the case without it being investigated - was said by a judge to be “chilling”.

The two officers - Cecilia Astle, who was the investigating officer in an assault case lodged by a member of the public against police officers who he alleged had assaulted him, and her supervisor Abraham Greyling turned to the Johannesburg Labour Court in an attempt to have their jobs back.

It transpired that Astle, barely a month after a case was opened by a man who claimed he was assaulted by the SAPS at a petrol station, decided to close the docket as she argued that there was no evidence and no suspects to warrant a further investigation.

This, despite the complainant stating that he had video footage showing the incident in which he was assaulted. The cashier at the garage where it happened also confirmed the video footage.

Greyling, without investigating why the docket was simply closed, endorsed Astle’s decision not to further investigate the matter. Neither she nor her commander bothered to inform the complainant that his case was closed.

Judge Molatelo Makhura, sitting in the Labour Court, turned down the pair’s bid to be reinstated.

He remarked in his judgment: “The conduct of the employees sends a chilling message to members of the public. It is utter disrespect and disregard for the rights and dignity of the complainants and victims of crimes.”

He added that the message portrayed by the officers is essentially that the SAPS will investigate cases they consider important and serious, and only those cases where the suspects have been identified.

To make matters worse, after it was decided to institute misconduct charges against the two officers and before the investigation into their conduct had been completed, both were presented with a written warning.

The court noted that this happened before the internal investigation had been concluded and prior to their misconduct hearing. It also transpired that during this time, Greyling had been promoted.

Following pressure from within the police command, their disciplinary hearing went ahead and they were both fired.

One of their grounds for now turning to the Labour Court is that this constituted double jeopardy. They claimed that they had already been punished by receiving a warning letter, thus they cannot also be fired. Judge Makhura, however, rejected this argument.

Their dismissal followed after Ntsie Sefuthi claimed he was assaulted by the police. He said he was attacked at an Engen Garage in Fochville, where he was brutally assaulted and dragged out of the garage by police officers.

According to him, he was placed in an SAPS vehicle, driven towards the police station and unlawfully detained by members of the SAPS who were wearing plain or civilian clothes. This, he said, was all captured on CCTV footage.

On their way to the police station, the officers stopped the vehicle and started questioning Sefuthi. It was during this questioning that they realised that Sefuthi was not the person they were looking for. They then drove back to the garage to drop him.

He said he only realised a year after he had laid charges of assault that his case was never investigated.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za