Police mum on psychotic cop
2002-09-27 21:45
Cape Town - Questions about the appointment of Sergeant Ismail Hendricks, the policeman charged with murdering five petrol attendants at a filling station in Grassy Park earlier this year, will remain unanswered for a while because Commissioner Lennit Max won't comment.
Max said on Friday all aspirant police officers undergo a series of evaluations, which included psychological tests, to determine whether they are fit for employment.
He didn't want to comment on Hendricks's appointment or whether the police had been aware of his condition. In a statement, the police said it was conducting its own internal investigation to determine whether procedures and policy had been followed in Hendricks's case.
Max also refused to comment on the fact that Hendricks was awarded a firearm licence in July last year, shortly after his service pistol was taken away from him because he was receiving treatment for depression.
Magistrate Awi Kotze declared Herdricks (33), who could not be held accountable for his actions because of a psychological condition, a state president's patient on Thursday. He is expected to spend the rest of his life in the Ford England psychiatric hospital in Grahamstown.
Hendricks handed himself over four days after the incident at the Jaffer filling station in June. Hendricks was referred to the Valkenberg psychiatric hospital for observation and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, a psychotic illness that can cause delusions and paranoia.
Could seem normal to his colleagues
Doctor Irma Labuschagne, a well-known criminologist from Pretoria, said signs of his condition might not have been visible at the time of his appointment. Stress couldn't have caused the condition, but could certainly have aggravated it.
"Few employers regularly test employees' psychological health. That's why we all have a responsibility to care for our families, colleagues and friends," she said.
"If Hendricks was psychotic at the time of the shooting, it means that he was unable to distinguish between right and wrong. Colleagues could have found his paranoia and prosecution mania quite logical within his occupational environment," she said.
Hishaan Mohamed SC, the regional head of the department of justice in the Western Cape, said the hospital that admitted Hendricks would have to apply to the Supreme Court to have him discharged if experts should consider him rehabilitated.
"In such a case, the state may decide to prosecute him under criminal law," he said. However, he doubts whether Hendricks will be discharged.
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