Justice served on dog cops: Tshwete

2001-11-29 17:31

(Adds government reaction paragraph 8, judge 14,16) By Sue Thomas PRETORIA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - A South African judge on Thursday jailed four white policemen for up to five years for setting their dogs on three black Mozambicans in an animal training exercise described as cruel and sadistic. "They laughed and treated it as a joke. The three witnesses (Mozambican victims) are clearly emotionally scarred and it was obviously intensely traumatic," Judge Willem van der Merwe told the court during sentencing. Robert Henzen, 32, Eugene Truter, 28, Jacobus Smith, 31 and Lodewyk Koch, 32, were convicted last week of seriously assaulting the three Mozambican illegal immigrants in 1998. The policemen were sentenced to effective jail terms ranging from five years to four years each. They were captured on videotape ordering their dogs to attack the three Mozambicans, who sat silently, their heads bowed, as they heard the judge sentence their tormentors. The video, which showed six policemen laughing as the Mozambicans pleaded for mercy during the attack in a field near Johannesburg, shocked South Africans after it was screened by state television station SABC last year. The South African government, the defence lawyer and an organisation which monitors violence all welcomed the sentences. "Justice has been served and has been seen to be served, that is very important," Minister for Safety and Security Steve Tshwete said in a statement. The three Mozambicans' lawyer said they were satisfied with the sentences and would soon seek substantial damages against the government and the policemen. "It was a fair trial. The police are supposed to protect the public and not to act in an illegal and sadistic way," Nascimento told Reuters. Two other policemen involved in the case, Nicolaas Loubser, 27, and Dino Guitto, 27, have pleaded not guilty and will stand trial on June 3 next year. Analysts said the incident has cast the spotlight on racism and police brutality, twin legacies of white-minority rule which ended in 1994. VIDEO SHOCKED THE WORLD The judge said the policemen only expressed remorse after the video was made public. The attack was planned as an exercise to cure Guitto's dog of its reluctance to bite. But even after the dog had been taught, the animals continued to attack while their handlers kicked and assaulted the injured men. "The video shocked the world. I am not surprised, the video is shocking," Van der Merwe said. "The act was cruel and sadistic...It must have been terrifying," the judge said. He took to task the police force, some of whose members told the court that using blacks to train their dogs to bite had been common practice. "For years people have been tortured by police. The South African police neglected their duties by not letting these activities come to light," he said. The judge said Smith was clearly the ring leader and sentenced him to seven years in jail, of which two years were suspended. He will appeal the sentence. The other three were each sentenced to six years in prison, of which two years were suspended. They were led away to start their sentence. The three Mozambicans left immediately after the sentencing under the protection of members of the elite Scorpions police unit. Nascimento said he had advised them to return to Mozambique "very soon" for their own safety. The Johannesburg-based Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation welcomed the sentences but called on the police to also bring to book the commanders of the policemen. "What is very clear is that not all those who were complicit in this act of savagery have yet been held accountable," it said in a statement. ((--Johannesburg newsroom, 27-11-7753155, [e-mail])) For related news, double click on one of the following codes: [G] [SF] [RNP] [DNP] [PGE] [ZA] [MZ] [AFE] [CRIM] [EMRG] [VIO] [NEWS] [LEN] [RTRS] Thursday, 29 November 2001 17:27:34 RTRS [nL29382164]

- Reuters