Bok’s son killed by cops
By Michelle Pughe-Parry
Source: The Herald Online
THREE policemen have been accused of killing former Springbok rugby star Polla Fourie’s son Louis at Coffee Bay almost four years ago.
Three- and-a-half years of investigation by members of the Serious Violent Crime unit finally unravelled the mystery yesterday, revealing a sinister, well-executed police cover-up.
Police spokesman Superintendent Marinda Mills said the three, a 37-year-old inspector, a 36-year-old sergeant and 31-year-old constable, all from Coffee Bay, all admitted their involvement in the shooting and subsequent cover-up.
Mr Fourie, 28, a fishing boat and backpacker hostel owner, was found lying in bushes a few hundred metres from his Coffee Bay home early on the morning of December 13, 1999. He had been shot twice. Sixteen spent R4 cartridges and three 9mm cartridges were scattered around his corpse.
Mr Fourie was killed barely five years after his grandfather, Jan, was stabbed to death in cold blood in the Fourie’s home in the quiet holiday hamlet.
The accused are expected to appear in the Mqanduli magistrate’s court today.
Police will oppose bail.
“From the beginning investigators had a hunch that police officials had been involved with Mr Fourie’s murder,” Supt Mills said..”
She said a case of mistaken identity appeared to have led to the tragedy.
“It seems that Mr Fourie was shot during the pursuit of the alleged housebreakers in the area and was mistaken by police as one of them.”
She said that once the police officers realised their terrible mistake they allegedly set about covering it up.
“One of the accused was involved with logistics at the station.
“So it would have been easy for him to manipulate the evidence and hide the weapon which was used during the shooting.”
She said on the morning of Mr Fourie’s death none of the police on duty reported that any firearms had been discharged.
“As a precaution all the firearms that had been booked out by members that night as well as other weapons on station strength were sent for ballistic testing.
“But none of them could be linked to the cartridges found on the scene.”
Supt Mills said however that a recent audit of ammunition and weapons at the station resulted in the discovery in a storeroom of an R4 rifle which had not been ballistically tested during the investigation.
“This weapon has been positively linked to the crime scene cartridges.”
Mr Fourie’s death left local residents reeling with shock.
Only four months previously Mr Fourie married his British-born wife Lorna and was living with her in Coffee Bay.
Some residents believed that his death could have been the result of a personal attack, while others dubbed the crime “sheer banditry” since at the time of the murder there had been several robberies and house burglaries.
The night of his death, Mr Fourie was providing late-night back-up to the watchman of a backpackers hostel.
After hearing shots further up the road he and members of the community joined police in a chase for suspected criminals.
During the pursuit, another round of shooting took place and later when the community and police gathered, Mr Fourie was missing.
Speaking from his Uitenhage farm last night Polla Fourie said the arrest of the policemen had come as no surprise.
“I told the investigators right from the start that the police were involved with my son’s death.
“Not only because they had all been out together looking for the criminals who had fired shots that night, but also because the last vehicle on the scene was a police car,” he said.
Asked if he was pleased that someone would finally be brought to justice for his son’s murder, Mr Fourie said: “It is difficult to be pleased when your son has been murdered.”
