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The \u201cCato Manor 18\u201d \u2013 the policemen accused of committing 14 \u201cdeath squad killings\u201d \u2013 have come out fighting in a high court challenge to the legality of a \u201cgeneral ransacking\u201d of their homes on the day of their arrests when, they say, search teams disregarded the law and decency and went through underwear and seized their children\u2019s possessions. <\/p>\n
In papers filed in the Durban High Court the policemen, who face a total of 71 charges and who will appear in court again next Friday when they are expected to be served with final indictments, describe the search warrants as \u201cbreathtaking in their scope\u201d and unconstitutional. <\/p>\n
They want a judge to order that anything taken must be returned. They also deny any involvement in criminal activity and say their arrest warrants were also unlawful \u2013 an issue they may raise at trial. <\/p>\n
Their attack is aimed at the minister of police, and specifically the actions of investigating officer Lieutenant-Colonel Frans Kola, and the magistrate who \u201crubber-stamped\u201d the search warrants which entitled those searching to \u201croam at large\u201d through their homes. <\/p>\n
The practical consequences of this were dire, says Warrant Officer Paul Mostert in the main affidavit in the court application. <\/p>\n
He says male searchers went through the underwear of the wife of one of the accused \u201ca completely unnecessary and distasteful exercise\u201d. They also seized a personal computer belonging to the young son of the same policeman. <\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the search of (Warrant Officer John Smith\u2019s) home, male searchers again went through his and his wife\u2019s clothing and personal documentation. They seized three cameras belonging to his wife. They then searched through his eight-year-old daughter\u2019s clothing and plastic toy container and wanted to seize her Wii game console and games. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was only when Smith pleaded with them not to traumatise his daughter any further that they reluctantly relented.\u201d <\/p>\n
A computer belonging to Smith\u2019s wife was seized. <\/p>\n
Mostert said the search at Anton Lockem\u2019s home was equally \u201cindiscriminate\u201d. The policeman\u2019s 80-year-old mother, recovering from a broken vertebrae and femur, was highly traumatised when her personal belongings were searched. <\/p>\n
At Mlabunzima Thabethe\u2019s house, the search took place in front of his young son who had to be consoled when his father was arrested and handcuffed in his presence. <\/p>\n
And those searching at Captain Neville Eva\u2019s home asked his wife repeatedly \u201chaving fun yet?\u201d. <\/p>\n
Regarding the specifics of the search warrants, Mostert said they were not addressed to any named police officers, they were \u201cunintelligible\u201d and overbroad. They did not, for example, give those searching \u201cthe slightest bit of information\u201d regarding the alleged offences and the policemen and their attorneys had to simply stand by while their homes were ransacked. <\/p>\n
The state has a month to file opposing affidavits and the matter will be in court in October. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The \u201cCato Manor 18\u201d \u2013 the policemen accused of committing 14 \u201cdeath squad killings\u201d \u2013 have come out fighting in a high court challenge to the legality of a \u201cgeneral ransacking\u201d of their homes on the day of their arrests when, they say, search teams disregarded the law and decency and went through underwear and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-13636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13636\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}