Overzealous cop jailed 15 years for suspect torture

A HIGH court judge yesterday blasted a policeman for overzealousness, barbaric and primitive behaviour as he sentenced him to 15 years in jail for torturing a suspect to death.

Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva convicted Sergeant Proud Moyo, 29, of the murder of Samson Ncube in March 2011 while acquitting Constable Mavis Mutema, 27, his co-accused, after finding insufficient evidence linking her to the offence.

Moyo and Mutema of Sauerstown police station, had both pleaded not guilty to killing Ncube who was found dead in a garden at his family home in Richmond suburb on March 10, 2011 - five days after being released from police custody where he had been subjected to a brutal assault with a fan belt and a baton.

However, Justice Takuva ruled that there was sufficient evidence linking Moyo to the death of Ncube and subsequently convicted him of a charge of murder with constructive intent.

The judge found Mutema not guilty and acquitted her.

Moyo was sentenced to 18 years in prison of which three were suspended for five years on condition that he does not within that period commit a similar offence.

Moyo was represented by Nozabelo Ndlovu while Mutema was represented by Jonathan Tsvangirai.

Ncube, 20, along with five other suspects, had been arrested in connection with a case of malicious injury to property where the gang allegedly stoned a Mercedes Benz belonging to a city motorist.

He allegedly confessed to the crime after enduring a beating from the two cops who took turns to assault him and was taken to court where he was remanded out of custody to allow him to raise money to restitute the complainant.

A postmortem conducted at the time showed that Ncube had died from intracranial haemorrhage — a head injury caused by assault.

In his judgment, Justice Takuva blasted Moyo's actions saying they were in violation of basic human rights and dignity.

"As a police officer, you are the custodian of the law but you instead broke it by exhibiting overzealousness in the manner you carried out your unlawful conduct. Torture is a violation of human rights and dignity and it was outlawed in international law and in our own constitution," said Justice Takuva.

The judge said Moyo through his actions had brought the name of the ZRP into disrepute.

"You tarnished the good image of our police force through hostility which is detrimental to its reputation. Assaulting suspects is barbaric and primitive and courts will not condone such actions by the very same people who are supposed to enforce the law," said Justice Takuva.

He bemoaned police brutality and challenged the police to apply modern methods of investigating crime without resorting to torture to extract information from suspects.

"The victim died over a petty crime of malicious damage to property, which in any case, does not warrant incarceration of suspects. The suspect died a painful death and the courts have a duty to uphold the sanctity of human life by passing harsh sentences to offenders," said Justice Takuva.

In mitigation through his lawyer, Moyo pleaded for leniency, arguing that the crime was not committed under aggravating circumstances. Moyo also said he was a breadwinner and looking after his two young children.