Bees 'was being blackmailed'
2010-09-02 08:21
Hilda Fourie and Gerhard Pretorius, Beeld
Pretoria - Blue Bulls prop Bees Roux may have become the victim of blackmail at the hands of metro police officers, after he spent a drunken evening at an infamous strip-club in Pretoria.
Roux had been at the club, Flamingo’s in Church Street, until the early hours of the morning before he was flagged down by members of the Tshwane metro police.
Roux later was arrested for murder after an incident in which one of the metro policemen died.
Pieter Crous, owner of Flamingo’s, said on Wednesday that officers of the Tshwane metro police would wait for his clients to emerge in the early hours and then drive them to ATM machines.
“The clients must then draw money and give it to the metro police officers or face being arrested for driving while drunk,” explained Crous. He confirmed that Roux and a friend were at his club on Friday morning.
Was already drunk
Another person who was also visiting Flamingo’s, said Roux and his friend were “already drunk” when they arrived at the club shortly before midnight. Roux left the club after 01:00.
“Presumably, he then fell prey to corrupt members of the metro police,” said Crous.
Roux appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on charges of murdering Sergeant Ntshimane Johannes Mohale, 38, and drunken driving. He was released on bail of R100 000.
Rudi Krause, his legal representative, said in the bail application that Roux was a “victim of theft by a metro police officer”.
Meanwhile, Tshwane metro police have launched their own internal investigation into Mohale and the two fellow officers who had instructed Roux to pull off the road that morning.
This is apparently the fourth internal investigation involving Mohale.
Beeld has learned from four independent sources about three previous ongoing internal investigations involving Mohale. These investigations related to charges of theft and disorderly conduct in July 2007; failing in his duty and unprofessional conduct in November 2008; and gross negligence, committing a deed harmful to the council and failing in his duty in December 2008.
Internal investigation
None of the earlier investigations or disciplinary hearings had been completed. Tleane did not want to confirm any of the charges. He did say the internal investigation which the metro police was conducting after Mohale’s murder was “standard procedure” and that metro police were working with the police “to understand the case”.
This included probing the procedure which officers followed after pulling Roux off the road for drunken driving.
Apparently, Roux was not arrested or cuffed, but Mohale got in behind the steering wheel of Roux’s car and then drove away with him.
The places where he drove to could not be confirmed. They did, however, drive away from the nearest police stations, Sunnyside and Brooklyn.
Dikeledi Lehobye, member of the mayoral committee for community safety in Tshwane, stated on the afternoon of Mohale’s death that the metro police officers were taking Roux to his home when the incident occurred.
However, Roux resided in Equestria in the east of Pretoria. Krause did not want to comment and did not want Beeld to speak to Roux.
The law states that should an officer of the law pull over a person due to drunken driving, that person should be controlled by handcuffing him, explaining to him why he was being arrested, his rights should be read to him and he should be taken to the nearest police station.