Macia cops 'covered up'

The sound of vuvuzelas reverberated inside a Benoni courtroom yesterday as magistrate Sam Makamu denied nine Daveyton policemen accused of killing Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macia bail.

Makamu made the ruling after telling the court that the state had shown that the policemen had concealed evidence to cover up their alleged role in Macia's death.

The policemen stand accused of torturing to death the 27-year-old taxi driver after allegedly dragging him behind a van through the streets of Daveyton two weeks ago.

In a lengthy judgment, Makamu found fault with the police for not explaining in their affidavits what had happened at the police station where Macia died.

Makamu also said the policemen's safety could not be guaranteed, citing their lawyers' earlier testimony in which they claimed they had been intimidated by residents after leaving court on Monday .

Makamu said the police had "concealed evidence" as the shoes Macia was wearing on the day had still not been found. He said the jeans he was wearing were later found hidden inside the police station.

The proceedings started with lengthy defence arguments in which Paralympian Oscar Pistorius's successful bail application was mentioned twice, much to the magistrate's annoyance.

Makamu told the defence lawyers that their arguments were not relevant and that he was losing his patience with them.

Prosecutor December Mthimunye said the entry on the cell's register recording Macia's arrest and detention was made around midnight, when he was already dead. Macia was arrested at 6.45pm, according to witnesses.

"Why was there no record created immediately at the police station?" Makamu asked.

Mthimunye said "a charge of defeating the ends of justice could be later added to the provisional charges of murder".

The police allegedly cited charges of grievous bodily harm and armed robbery as reasons for Macia's arrest. But no case docket had been found, the court heard.

The date of Macia's arrest for alleged armed robbery in Daveyton police records was February 2011, Mthimunye told the court.

Only after the Independent Police Investigative Directorate questioned this was the date changed to 2013, he said.

Mthimunye told the court that there was no evidence that Macia had been involved in an accident in which he allegedly killed five children a few days before his own death, as the defence had claimed.

He said there was no police record of such an accident having taken place and that there had been no funerals of five primary pupils recently.