Killer cop: Families outraged

2002-09-26 22:47

Llewellyn Prince

Cape Town - "It is because he is a policeman! Why do they only find out now that he is sick?"

This was one of the angry cries and questions from relatives and friends of the five murdered petrol attendants on Thursday at the Wynberg regional court, after this court ruled that the policeman who mowed down the five at a Grassy Park petrol station in June this year would not be criminally prosecuted for these crimes.

Magistrate Awie Kotze declared Sergeant Ismael Hendricks (33) a state patient after he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic in three separate psychological reports. He has been at Valkenberg Hospital for observation for two months.

Stephen Lay, one of the psychologists who treated him, said this meant that Hendricks suspected everyone close to him of conspiring to harm him.

Hendricks's legal representative, Colin Muller, said he would be transferred to Fort England psychiatric hospital (maximum security) in Grahamstown this weekend, where he would be treated for the rest of his life.

The court ruling stipulated that the criminal charges against Hendricks was suspended.

No understanding of the seriousness

Muller said that as a result of Hendricks's condition he still hadn't comprehended the seriousness of his acts.

In his testimony, investigating officer Inspector Aubrey McDonald confirmed that Hendricks had indeed committed these murders. He had earlier admitted that he had shot the men.

Thembisile Ngxumza, father of one of Hendricks's victims, the 23-year-old Athur Ngxumza, angrily said his family was very dissatisfied with the result and would not leave the matter there.

"We will consult with our attorneys on this and find out what further steps we can take. Someone was responsible for my son's death and someone has to pay for it," he said, as other relatives agreed.

Sulaiman Jaffer, owner of the Jaffer filling station where the five young men had worked at the time of the incident, said he would talk to the families before they decided together what to do next.

Worried about his kids

Hendricks' wife Mariam collapsed when she heard her husband's fate and was hurriedly taken away from court in a car.

His mother Sukayna Hendricks was in tears when she said her son was not someone who would harm others, and that she still believed that he did not commit the murders alone.

Lay said there were indications during Hendricks's stay at Valkenberg that was indeed a paranoid schizophrenic and that he had apparently been in a psychotic condition when he arrived at the filling station.

"He repeatedly said during observation that the petrol pump attendants had conspired on the night of the incident and had assaulted him, after which he shot them in self-defence," said Lay.

He believed Hendricks was unable to remember the nights' events chronologically due to his condition, and said Hendricks had kept repeating himself when questioned about what happened.

Muller said Hendricks had fully agreed with the court's ruling and was fully informed on what would happen to him now.

"He was just worried about his two children (11 and 6 years old respectively) and his family," Muller said.

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- Die Burger