Murder suspects free after blundering cops force them to travel with their victim

Celani Sikhakhane

In a truly bizarre series of events, four men suspected of murder ended up walking free after the cops who arrested them made them travel in the same van with the victim’s body.

The Durban cops allegedly forced the murder suspects to travel with the body of the victim in their police van on the way to the station.

Determined to break even more protocols, the incompetent cops then made the suspects carry the victim’s body from the van to the holding cells, and wait with it until it could be taken to a mortuary.

The victim, known only as Ngcobo, met his end amidst the chaos of a drunken brawl at a drinking spot at the King Rest informal settlement at midnight on Friday.

He allegedly attempted to stab members of a group he had, until the incident took place, been drinking merrily with.

The group turned on Ngcobo, and they beat him to death.

When the cops arrived on the scene at Brighton Beach, they arrested four members of the mob and threw them into their van alongside Ngcobo’s body, according to witnesses at the scene.

After carrying the body to the holding cells, the four male suspects allegedly had to spend hours with the body until it was taken to a mortuary by forensic pathologists.

The police officers were apparently crying with laughter at the stunt they just pulled – until the moment they realised how much trouble they were in.

The police officer, who was not involved in the arrests, told Scrolla.Africa that when her colleagues realised they had broken protocol, they released the suspects without charging them.

One suspect, who asked not to be named, said: “We were bleeding and looking at a dead man. This was traumatic. I don’t think we will be fine anytime soon.” 

The police officer, who did not want to be named, said they reported the incident on Friday to the station commander, but she hasn’t taken any further action. 

“We asked our colleagues why they came to the station with the body. All they did was to laugh at us while speaking Afrikaans and knocked off,” said the cop, who asked not to be named. 

KwaZulu Natal Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said an internal investigation into the allegations will take place. 

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