Four of the eight former police officers who were involved in the killing a Mozambican immigrant, Mido Macia, will be appealing their conviction in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.
Eight police officers were sentenced to 15 years in prison after they dragged Macia for about 500 metres behind a police van in 2013.
Macia was dragged behind a police van through the streets of Daveyton on the East Rand in February 2013. His crime was to have parked in the road in such a way that he caused a traffic jam.
He was later found dead in a holding cell. The Independent Police Directorate (IPID) said that it appeared that he had also been severely beaten while in detention. It says he died of internal bleeding.
Legal expert, Lebohang Mokhele, says the case will be a tough one for the four officers.
“In terms of prospects of success they don’t stand a chance in the sense that they would need to prove that their conduct was in such a way that they wanted to protect him or the fight.”
Macia came to South Africa as a 17-year-old. He was a taxi driver and he had a wife and child.
The policemen’s trial started in March 2013 and they were sentenced on August 25 of the same year.
Mokhele says the duty of the police is to safeguard the community.
“They have exceeded the scope of their services in the service that the duty of police is to safe guard the community in an event that involves element of crime in it.”
Marcia was described as a very humble man by the Benoni Taxi Association, to which he belonged.
