Double blow for apartheid-era South African policeman
Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The Gauteng High Court in South Africa has dismissed former Apartheid-era policeman, Joao Rodrigues' leave to appeal his prosecution for the murder of liberation hero, Ahmed Timol.
Timol was an anti-apartheid activist representing the South African Communist Party (SACP) when he was arrested in 1971. He died after falling from the 10th floor of the notorious John Vorster Square police station in Johannesburg, where he had been detained for five days.
An inquest the following year ruled that he committed suicide. Most of the evidence was centred around Rodrigues's testimony. The former policeman said he saw Timol jump to his death and was unable to save him.
The court has now ruled that there are no “reasonable prospects of success” with the appeal.
As previously reported by PANA, the court in 2017 overturned the finding of a 1971 inquest that Timol had committed suicide by throwing himself out of a window, ruling that he had been murdered.
Rodrigues was officially charged in July 2018. The matter has been postponed to 28 September for trial.
Timol's life and the circumstances of his death is the subject of the 2015 documentary film “Indians Can’t Fly”, by director Enver Samuel.
In a further blow to the disgraced former policeman, his own daughter Tilana Stander, earlier this month announced that she wants him prosecuted for allegedly sexually abusing her between 1972 and 1976.
Stander, who has opened a case of child abuse against Rodrigues, said “he has to be prosecuted for what he did to me”.
This case will be investigated by Pretoria police where Rodriguez was based when the alleged abuse occurred.
-0- PANA CU/VAO 19Sept2019
