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'Drunk' cop gets 10 years
21/04/2008 18:17 - (SA)
Grahamstown - The Grahamstown Magistrate's Court on Monday sentenced a Bhisho policeman to 10 years imprisonment for shooting and killing his "best friend".
Delivering the sentence, Judge Eric Leach described the murder as a "senseless crime that wouldn't have happened had the accused not been drunk".
Marc Henry Claasen, 33, from Booysens Park, Port Elizabeth, appeared before Leach, for the murder of fellow policeman Duan Russel Hufkie, 36, of King William's Town. Hufkie was killed on November 18, 2005.
Both officers were employed by Bhisho VIP Protection Unit.
Leach granted Claasen's application for leave to appeal to a full bench against both conviction and sentence.
He also extended Claasen's bail of R1 000 until the outcome of the appeal was finalised.
Claasen was convicted of murder last November, based on the evidence of a single witness.
Then, the court heard that Claasen "after drinking heavily with friends that day, had, for reasons unknown to the court, placed his 9mm service pistol in Hufkie's mouth, and shot him".
Leach said because the state obtained the murder conviction based on the evidence of a single witness, application for leave to appeal should be granted.
On conviction, the judge described Claasen as "a shocking, woeful and poor witness". He lambasted some members of the VIP protection unit "as heavy drinking, irresponsible young men armed with dangerous weapons, who have become a law unto themselves".
Claasen's lawyer, advocate Johan Wessels, asked the court to consider imposing a sentence of correctional supervision on his client, coupled with a term of suspended imprisonment.
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