A former police captain who was filmed in 2008 taking R100 and a live sheep as a bribe, has been sentenced to five years in jail by the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court. Captain Richard Stevens Makhene, 54, on Wednesday received a seven-year sentence, of which two years were suspended. Magistrate Ben van Schalkwyk also denied Makhene leave to appeal.
Makhene was head of the Hammanskraal police station’s crime prevention unit when a Carte Blanche television crew filmed the bribe with a hidden camera. The footage was later used as evidence in court, to back up testimony by Stephen Smith, who testified that Makhene and four policemen had pulled his bakkie off the road and discovered that three of the workers in the vehicle were illegal immigrants.
Makhene informed Smith it was a crime to employ illegal immigrants, and that he would probably have to pay a R25,000 fine. Smith said he didn’t have “that kind of money”, and Makhene offered to drop the case for R10,000. Smith then offered him R100 and a live sheep, which Makhene accepted. There was no room for the sheep in the police car’s boot, so Makhene and his colleagues put it on the back seat.
Source: The Sowetan
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