Yengeni cop jailed for 4 years

2010-05-10 12:58

Cape Town - Former commander of the Goodwood police station Siphiwe Hewana was on Monday jailed for four years for attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

His trial, before Magistrate Elsa van Zyl in the Parow Regional Court, resulted from his interference in the drunken driving case of former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni.

As station commander, Hewana gave subordinate police officials involved in the Yengeni case instructions to destroy the docket.

At the time of Yengeni's arrest, he (Yengeni) was on parole and was not permitted to consume liquor or be out on the road late at night.

House arrest

The magistrate ordered that Hewana could be considered for release from prison into house arrest after completing eight months of his sentence.

Defence attorney Greg Duncan notified the court that an application for leave to appeal would be brought on May 17.

Van Zyl declined a defence request for Hewana to be released, either on warning or on bail, pending the outcome of the application.

She said the Criminal Procedure Act allowed for Hewana to be released on bail or on warning only after the application for leave to appeal had been launched, but not before.

- SAPA