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Two police officers who were previously stationed in Paarl have each received suspended sentences after prolonged court proceedings following their conviction in December 2011, when the duo where caught red-handed stealing illicit contraband during a stop and search in Paarl’s Main Road.
The Cape Town High Court last week sentenced Wilfred Martin (56) to five years’ imprisonment and handed his co-accused, Shaun Falmer (43), a suspended sentence and three years of correctional supervision.
According to Eric Ntabazalila, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the duo was convicted on charges of fraud, defeating the ends of justice and contravention of Section 80(1)(a) of the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964.
“The court sentenced Martin to five years’ direct imprisonment on the charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice.
“It fined him R5 000 or three years’ imprisonment for contravention of Section 80(1)(a) of the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964, but wholly suspended the sentence for three years on condition he was not convicted for the same offence that is committed during the period of suspension.
It declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
“On the charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice, the court sentenced Falmer to five years’ direct imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years on condition he would not be convicted of fraud or theft and sentenced to a period of imprisonment, without the option of a fine, during the period of suspension.”
Ntabazalila added that Falmer was also sentenced to three years of correctional supervision.
“This is the contravention of Section 80(1)(a) of the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964,” he said, “for which he was fined R5 000 or three years’ imprisonment wholly suspended for five years, on condition he is not convicted for the same charge during the period of suspension.”
An undercover police officer of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) conducted a sting operation on 27 December 2011 in which he pretended to be a foreign national whose vehicle had broken down while travelling on Main Road in Paarl.
He was transporting 12 boxes of illicit cigarettes in an unmarked vehicle.
Ntabazalila said the two police officers approached the vehicle, arrested the supposed “foreign national” and seized the 12 boxes.
“The ‘suspect’ was transported to Paarl Police Station, but only three boxes of cigarettes were booked in at the station as seized goods.
The other nine boxes in the unmarked vehicle were not booked in at the charge office as per the norm, but removed from the scene and stored at the premises of a private individual.
They were retrieved after the accused were arrested.
After briefly appearing in court the officers were released on bail and their trial started on 14 April 2014, when both pleaded not guilty to all counts in the Paarl Regional Court.
Last week the court remarked that Falmer received a lesser sentence because he was not the target of the entrapment operation and was merely implicated on the date of the offence, a detail that allowed for the difference in the accused’s respective sentencing.
“They also remarked that he had shown remorse, which his co-accused did not,” Ntabazalila added.
