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McBride faces more charges
20/07/2007 11:50 - (SA)
Pretoria - Ekurhuleni metro police Chief Robert McBride appeared briefly in the Pretoria Regional Court on Friday morning and was granted bail of R1 000.
McBride faces charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, defeating the ends of justice and fraud.
Except for the three main counts McBride also faces alternative charges of reckless or negligent driving, conspiracy and incitement.
The charges relate to McBride's car accident in December last year, near Centurion, Pretoria.
Dressed in a neat dark suit instead of his police chief uniform, McBride was not asked to plead, but was instructed not to interfere with four of the state witnesses.
According to the charge sheet, McBride was allegedly under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The charge sheet includes an allegation that McBride tried to cover up for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Defeating the ends of justice
The defeating the ends of justice charge contained the most detail. This included an allegation that McBride told witnesses at the scene of the accident that he was only the passenger of the crashed vehicle and that he had instructed one of his subordinates to remove him from the scene before the police arrived.
"The accused requested Dr Inbanathan Sagathevan, a medical doctor, to draw blood from Mr Stanley Albert Gonaseelan Sagathevan and to send it for alcohol analysis under the accused's name," the charge sheet continued.
It also claimed that McBride for most part of this year has tried to induce several doctors to issue false medical certificates saying that he was sober at the time of the accident.
McBride had asked Dr Sagatheven to give him notes stating that his medication for diabetes had been increased shortly before the accident in December.
He allegedly then took these notes to a chemical pathologist in KwaZulu-Natal, who issued a report saying he might have suffered from hypoglycaemia.
McBride also apparently instructed three of his officers - Stanley Sagathevan, Patrick Johnston and Itumeleng Koko - to sign false affidavits stating that he was sober at time of the crash.
The three are the same officers who earlier this month in the Johannesburg High Court were granted an interim order against McBride and several other officers, preventing them from intimidating them.
The charge sheet alleged McBride tried to intimidate the investigating officer of his case, Inspector Pylandhran Moodley, by sending one of his officers to Moodley's home to take pictures of his wife and children.
The case was set down for 8, 9, 12 November.
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