Warrant officer Shaun Davids was found guilty of corruptly demanding R3 000 to release a convicted crayfish offender’s confiscated vehicle.
|||Cape Town - A police group commander who “lied” in court about a bribe, was found guilty of corruption when he appeared in a court in Cape Town on Thursday.
Warrant officer Shaun Davids, a group commander at the Steenberg police station in Cape Town’s southern suburbs, appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville, before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg.
Sentencing proceedings are to start on Monday.
Davids was found guilty of corruptly demanding R3 000 to release a convicted crayfish offender’s confiscated vehicle back to him.
The case arose after Davids intercepted the crayfish suspect on the Cape Flats for the illegal possession of crayfish, and confiscated the suspect’s vehicle.
After the finalisation of the crayfish matter, Davids corruptly requested R3 000 from the offender, as a bribe to release the suspect’s confiscated car back to him, without the necessary procedures.
Instead of paying the bribe, the offender reported the request, and the Western Cape Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) set up an undercover operation to trap Davids.
It was arranged for the crayfish offender to pay Davids the R3 000 at a Nandos outlet, and to wave his cap as a signal to police officials watching that he had paid the money.
After waving his cap, undercover police surrounded Davids, who was seated in an unmarked police car, and arrested him, the court heard.
Davids’ version was that the offender was desperate to get the confiscated vehicle back, without the necessary procedure, and in fact offered Davids the bribe.
Davids said the offender was a known gangster, and dangerous, and because of this Davids set up his own, secret trap for him – but failed to obtain permission to do so, as he should have.
The two met at the Nandos outlet, where the offender offered him the money.
Davids said he asked what the money was for, and the gangster said, “It’s for you.”
Davids claimed that he counted the money in the car, and that his intention was to report the incident to his commander, and hand the money in as proof.
However, he was arrested whilst he was still in the car, counting the money, he claimed.
The court ruled that Davids’ version was “inherently improbable”, and not “reasonably possibly true”, as claimed by defence counsel Janine Boltman.
The magistrate said Davids’ story was so inherently improbable, that it stood to be rejected as lies.
The R3 000 was an “undue gratification” for Davids to release the vehicle back to the offender, and Davids accepted it, the magistrate ruled.
The court was satisfied that prosecutor Simon Leope had proved the State’s case beyond reasonable doubt.
African News Agency