A SAPS inspector based at Durban North police station has been found guilty of defeating the course of justice. This comes after a Standard Bank representative reported a case of fraud at Durban North SAPS on 21 September 2005. The case was then allocated to Inspector V Moodley to investigate. The suspect was known at the time as he was arrested on a case in Westville. Details of the suspect and Westville case were then incorporated in the complainant’s statement.
Around March 2006 the complainant was left surprised when after enquiring about progress into the case he was informed that the docket was filed as “undetected”. The complainant demanded to know reason for the filing of the docket. It was discovered after further investigation that Inspector Moodley had removed the complainant’s original statement and substituted it with falsified statement omitting the suspect’s details and the arrest on the Westville case. The complainant then registered a case of defeating the course of justice against the inspector.
SAPS investigated the matter and upon completion the docket was referred to the Senior Public Prosecutor (SPP) who declined to prosecute in respect of Durban North CAS 45/06/2006.
During June 2007 the ICD received a complaint of corruption lodged against Inspector Moodley. The ICD then instituted a full-scale investigation into the corruption case. During this investigation the ICD uncovered the Durban North CAS 45/06/2006 and after careful consideration concluded that the SPP was misled into making a decision against the prosecution of the inspector in respect to Durban North CAS 45/06/2006. ICD reopened the investigation and after which the docket was resubmitted to the SPP for a decision. The SPP decided to prosecute Inspector Moodley for defeating the course of justice.
Inspector Moodley pleaded guilty to a charge of defeating the course of justice on 2 July 2009. He was sentenced to pay a fine of R4 000.00 or four months imprisonment.
The corruption case which had been provisionally withdrawn due to the non-availability of a key witness is ready and will be referred back to the SPP for the case to be placed back on the court roll.
Enquiries:
Tiyani Sambo
Cell: 082 809 1927
Issued by: Independent Complaints Directorate
6 July 2009
Source: Independent Complaints Directorate (http://www.icd.gov.za/)
