N1 assault: Victim breaks down after being accused of being a threat to presidential convoy
The driver of the blue VW Polo that was stopped by the officers has spent the day testifying in the Randburg Magistrates Court.
Members of the South African Police Service's VIP protection unit appear in court for the assault of civilians in Jonannesburg. Picture: Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The victim of a brutal assault involving Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s VIP protection guards was moved to tears as he was accused of being a danger and a threat to the presidential convoy.
The driver of the blue VW Polo that was stopped by the officers spent the day testifying in the Randburg Magistrates Court.
READ: N1 assault: Victim says he thought they were being hijacked
Eight police officers, who were briefly suspended and reinstated, face 11 counts of various charges, including assault to cause grievous bodily harm, reckless and negligent driving and assault by way of threat.
Mashatile was not being escorted in any of the vehicles at the time of the attack.
The State’s first witness in the trial against the eight VIP protection officers spent the day looking tense under cross-examination while explaining exactly what happened in July last year on the N1 highway.
Council for the defence, Mshengu Makhubele, laboured the point that the driver was moving at a high speed across the N1 highway near the Malibongwe off-ramp first between the first two faster lanes and then towards the left.
He said the driver ignored signals by the officers to slow down and move away from the presidential convoy and that is when he was viewed as a danger and a threat.
But the witness, who soon turned emotional, questioned why they did not follow the correct procedures to determine if he was indeed a threat.
As Makhubele repeated that he was a danger, the witness teared up, prompting the court to adjourn until Thursday.