The Cape Town High Court has served suspended sentences to two corrupt police officers on charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice.
The judgement comes after prolonged court proceedings following the officers’ conviction in December 2011 for ‘stealing illicit contraband during a stop and search in Paarl’s Main Road’, according to Paarl Post, via News24.
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Wilfred Martin (56) was sentenced to five years imprisonment, while his co-accused, Shaun Falmer (43), received a suspended sentence and three years of correctional supervision by the court.
In addition to the charges, Martin was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
‘It fined him R5 000 or three years’ imprisonment for contravention of Section 80(1)(a) of the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964, but wholly suspended the sentence for three years on condition he was not convicted for the same offence that is committed during the period of suspension,’ said Eric Ntabazalila, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
‘On the charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice, the court sentenced Falmer to five years’ direct imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years on condition he would not be convicted of fraud or theft and sentenced to a period of imprisonment, without the option of a fine, during the period of suspension,’ Ntabazalila added.
The officers were caught in December 2011 during a sting operation in which an undercover police officer pretended to be a foreign national whose car had broken down along Paarl’s Main Road.
The undercover officer was transporting 12 boxes of illicit cigarettes in an unmarked vehicle when both Martin and Falmer approached the vehicle, arrested him and seized the 12 boxes.
After the officer was transported to the Paarl Police Station, only three boxes of cigarettes were ‘booked in at the station as seized goods’, according to Ntabazalila.
The other nine boxes in the unmarked vehicle were not booked in at the charge office as per routine but rather taken to the private premises of an individual.
After the contraband cigarettes were retrieved, Martin and Falmer were arrested.
Their trial started on 14 April, 2014 and they pleaded not guilty to all counts in the Paarl Regional Court.
Falmer received a lesser sentence because he was not ‘the target of the entrapment operation’ and was merely implicated on the date of the offence.
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Picture: @SAPoliceService / X
