Cops unfair, says bomb suspect
05/02/2007 19:35  - (SA)  

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Cape Town - A suspected member of the now-inactive organisation People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) claimed on Monday in Malmesbury magistrate's court that he had been unfairly treated by police.

Shahied Davids, 46, of Athlone in Cape Town is accused of having three pipe bombs.

He was arrested near Malmesbury, last December after being intercepted by police as he drove from Chatsworth towards Cape Town.

Davids said in court on Monday that the sirens of the police vehicle that transported him and other awaiting-trial prisoners to court were activated.

'Unhappy with this treatment'

Davids told magistrate Jan Gericke that, according to other prisoners in the vehicle with him, this high-security action happened only when he was with them.

Gericke noted that Davids was "unhappy with this treatment", but said it was a security measure that was beyond the court's control.

Davids also told the court he had terminated his free legal representation arranged by the Legal Aid Board, and would now be represented by privately-funded lawyer A J Kajee.

Although Kajee was absent from the proceedings, Davids handed up a letter in which Kajee confirmed his instructions, and that he would be present at the next appearance on March 19.

Davids was recently refused bail by Malmesbury regional court after police said they had information about eight additional pipe bombs being circulated in the Western Cape.

It later transpired the police information was false, and a 27-year-old Pelican Park man was arrested for making hoax calls to the police.

The unnamed man now faces charges of defeating the ends of justice.

Bomb found in time

Davids said on Monday he now wanted to appeal against being refused bail.

Davids was arrested in 2000, in connection with a pipe bomb that was discovered in the nick of time, and defused, at the Keg and Swan restaurant in Durbanville.

Charges against him relating to that incident were later withdrawn.

He was recently paroled after serving a jail sentence for Pagad-related violence in the 1990s.

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