BENONI – Nine Daveyton policemen accused of killing Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macia will remain in custody as they prepare to defend themselves in their murder trial.

The men were all denied bail in the Benoni Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. They were arrested late last month.

The 27-year-old taxi driver was found dead in holding cells at the Daveyton Police Station on 26 February, hours after he was handcuffed to a police van and dragged hundreds of metres.

Macia’s ordeal was filmed by angry community members who say they pleaded with police to stop.

It has been claimed the taxi driver resisted arrest for parking his vehicle in an illegal spot on a road and threatening one of the policemen with a firearm.

The murder accused are Thamsanqa Ncema, Linda Sololo, Meshack Malele, Motome Walter Ramatlou, Percy Mnisi, Bongumusa Mdluli, Sipho Ngobeni, Lungisa Ewababa and Bongani Kolisi.

The bail application concluded yesterday after lengthy arguments from the state and defence.

Macia’s family hugged each other tightly as Magistrate Sam Makamu read out that all the accused had been denied bail.

“I don’t think it is in the interest of justice for the applicants to be released on bail at this stage. And as such, the application is dismissed.”

In the dock, the policemen’s heads dropped as court interpreters relayed the news.

In a judgment that lasted nearly two hours, Makamu ruled it was not guaranteed the men would not interfere with witnesses.

He also said allowing the accused to return to their homes, situated in Daveyton, was risky.

The matter will return to court on 12 April, when a trial date will be set.

‘WATER-TIGHT’ CASE

The state prosecutor in the case against the policemen yesterday said they had a watertight case thanks to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), which is leading the probe into Macia’s death.

December Mthimunye said he is proud of the IPID team and confident about going to trial.

“They were met with so many challenges. You must understand, the people they are investigating are their colleagues… It is not your simple, straight-forward case whereby [there] is one accused. We’re talking about nine different accused being police officers.”

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