Long arm of law reaches cops

2003-11-03 22:17

Philip de Bruin

Pretoria - Police who arrested magistrate Hendrik van der Walt of Groblersdal on Thursday evening for releasing two suspects on their own recognisances and later scrapping the case against them from the court roll, may now themselves be in trouble with the law.

Deputy national prosecutor Jan Henning said on Monday he had ordered an "investigation and possible criminal prosecution" of the men who arrested Van der Walt.

Director Vincent Ntengo of police headquarters in Pretoria and captain G W Lebepe, the investigating officer in the case Van der Walt scrapped, were present at the magistrate's arrest.

A senior police officer said the drama, which started on Thursday, "was threatening to become one of the biggest police scandals ever".

The trouble started when Van der Walt scrapped the case against Ansonette Stemmet of Marble Hall police and Leon van Zyl, a traffic officer from Groblersdal. They had been charged with theft and fraud.

Henning ordered on Friday that Van der Walt's case and that of his co-accused, inspector Miekie Rossouw, might not be placed on the court roll until the national prosecutor had studied the dossier.

- Beeld