Two former police officers will receive their sentences in the Cape Town Regional Court today, more than 12 years after their arrest.
Their case began on 27 December 2011.
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On that day, an undercover police officer from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) conducted a sting operation in which he pretended to be a foreign national whose vehicle had broken down while travelling on Main Road in Paarl. He was also transporting 12 boxes of illicit cigarettes.
Eric Ntabazalila, spokesperson for the Western Cape National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), says that Paarl-based police officers approached the unmarked vehicle, arrested the supposed ‘foreign national’ and seized the 12 boxes of illicit cigarettes.
‘He was transported to the Paarl Community Centre, but a mere three boxes of cigarettes were booked in at the police station as seized goods,’ says Ntabazalila.
‘The other eight boxes of cigarettes that were in the unmarked vehicle were not booked in at the charge office as per the norm but removed from the scene and stored at the premises of a private individual.’
The missing eight boxes were discovered when the accused were arrested.
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Wilfred Martin and Shaun Falmer were convicted of fraud, defeating the ends of justice and contravening Section 80(1)(a) of the Customs and Excise Act.
According to Ntabazalila, both officers were released on bail and stood trial in the Paarl Regional Court in 2014.
However, News24 reports that the pair challenged the constitutionality of their entrapment, which prompted a trial within a trial. This lasted for five years before the prosecution could close its case after the court ruled that the entrapment was constitutional.
Last year, the court issued a judgement in light of the extent of corruption by police officers. ‘After extensive arguments were presented to assist the court in the evaluation of the evidence presented to the court over more than nine years, judgment was delivered on 2 August 2023, more than 12 years since the accused’s arrest,’ says Ntabazalila.
At the time, Martin and Falmer faced a prescribed sentence of 15 years in jail unless the court found compelling reasons to deviate from that sentence.
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Picture: South African Police Service / Facebook