A 28-year-old detective from the Barkley East Police Station, in the Eastern Cape, has been arrested by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) on murder and assault charges.
An accomplice, who is also a police officer, is still at large. The two officers allegedly tortured a suspect to death while he was in police custody.
IPID spokesperson Ndileka Cola says the detective is expected to appear in the Elliot Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
“It is alleged the deceased 25-year-old male was detained in Barkley East for a case of a murder he allegedly committed in Cape Town in 2020 and was arrested on 08 June 2021 in Eastern Cape. As alleged, they took the deceased suspect to the detective’s offices to interrogate him. The two suspects brought him back to the police station around 17:00. The charge office commander allegedly noticed that the deceased could not walk and was very weak;. The two suspected police officers assisted him to walk to his cell. During the shift handover, same hour, the suspect was found dead in his police cell.
