Sunday, June 22, 2014

Crimes of the South African Police Service

Cape cop appears for drug dealing
2013-12-03 21:42
Cape Town - A police sergeant based at the Cape Town central police station appeared in court on Tuesday, charged with dealing in drugs and corruption.
Cornelius CamaronWessels, 48, appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court, before Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, but was not asked to plead.
According to the charge sheet, suspicions of corruption and drug dealing, allegedly involving Wessels, led to an undercover police operation in which he was arrested.
A fake arrest was carried out on a police agent, who was held in a cell.
In the course of the operation, a police captain gave a constable a parcel containing four small bags of dagga, hidden under food, and R100, last November.
The constable was to give Wessels the parcel to give to the man in the cell, and was also to give Wessels the R100 as his reward for illegally delivering the parcel to the "prisoner" in custody.
Prosecutor Ezmarelda Johnson alleges Wessels did as requested, and later corruptly accepted the R100.
In the cell, the "prisoner" opened the parcel in Wessels’s presence, and in doing so exposed the bags of dagga. Wessels had a duty to confiscate the dagga, but allegedly failed to do so.
Wessels was represented by Legal Aid attorney Hailey Lawrence, who asked for a postponement to 3 March, when Wessels is expected to plead.
- SAPA