The legal counsel of the policeman in question, Mohlomi Ramaphiri, on Tuesday requested a postponement of the matter due to his client’s abrupt, unspecified illness.

Ramaphiri was in court during the brief court proceedings, standing alongside his co-accused in the dock.

He and his fellow constables, Gideon Mandindi, Molebatsi Modisenyane and the captain in the group, Seabelo Mogopodi, are accused of robbing a shop owner in Phase three in early October 2018. The group is alleged to have taken R25 000 in cash, cigarettes and a cell phone, that belonged to the foreign national shop owner. 

Mogopodi sees the postponement as a setback because he so eagerly wanted to get the matter over and done with and prove his alleged innocence. The Magistrate has instructed that Ramaphiri present a doctor’s sick note in his next court appearance.

The group will return to court on 27 January 2020 and remain out on R1000 bail. They are reportedly back at work.

The postponement occurs a day before another police officer, 34-year-old Noxolo Job, reappears in the same courthouse for a separate matter. Job stands accused of accepting a R30 000 bribe for stolen VIP protection unit firearms.

OFM News