The South African police will on Monday charge eight police officers to court for their alleged roles in the October 2017 torture and murder of a Nigerian, Ibrahim Badmus.
The Nigeria Consul General in South Africa, Godwin Adama, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone conversation from Johannesburg, that the officers include two women and six men.
The officers according to him, are: Catherine Tenteza, Gerhard Der-Walt, Nkosinathi Ngwenya , Aaron Arends, Nomkhosi Khoza, Emmanuel Ngwane, Msebenzi Mkhuma, and Joseph Mamasela .
Mr Adama said that the officers, who were arrested on Friday by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), would be arraigned in the Vanderbijlpark Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
He said that Mr Badmus, 25, a native of Ibadan, Oyo State, was allegedly killed when the officers interrogated and suffocated him on October 10, 2017, in Vanderbijlpark.
Mr Adama commended the IPID who he said assured of a thorough investigation and they had kept to their word.
“They had constantly briefed us on the case and we commend their seriousness of approach in bringing justice to Nigerians in this case.
“It will set a new standard in prosecution of cases involving Nigerians in South Africa. It will also send a strong message out.”
The envoy also expressed appreciation to the government of South Africa for creating the enabling environment for justice to prevail.
NAN reports that IPID spokesperson, Moses Dlamini, had said that the accused persons claimed that they had found drugs on the deceased.
“There was a huge outcry from the Nigerian community when the death was discovered. At the time, the police also alleged that they were attacked by ‘drug dealers’,” he said.
Mr Dlamini said IPID investigators had probed the matter amid a lot of “hostility” from some members of the South African Police Service.
He said two pathologists who conducted the post-mortem confirmed that the deceased had indeed been tortured.
“The docket was referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for prosecution and the DPP decided that the eight suspects be charged for murder and torture,” he said.