A total of 20 out of the 21 police officers charged for the torture and murder of Montford father, Regan Naidoo, who died in police custody in August 2018, appeared together in the Durban Regional Court, on Friday.
With the case being postponed until December for further investigations and allegations of witnesses being intimidated surfacing during court proceedings, Naidoo’s family, clad in t-shirts calling for ‘Justice for Regan’, were emotional after seeing the police officers allegedly responsible for Naidoo’s murder appear in court for the first time together.
The police officers, who are from different divisions of the SAPS including the Chatsworth SAPS Trio Crime Unit, Durban K9 Unit, Durban Flying Squad and Provincial Organised Crime Unit are Pushpanthan Pillay (48), Malcolm Naicker (39), Brian Naidoo (63), Trevor Chetty (44), Ralph Ogle (43), Mlamhli Ntutuka (39), Andries Botes (46), Sihle Ngidi (39), Erik Karsen (39), Muhammed Raoof (52), Eric Morajane (44), Preshan Lutchman (30), Christopher Kistan (50), Irindrin Maistry (36), Cedric Pillay (36), Xolani Sosibo (34), Kubendran Kristen (39), Rajan Sanders (47), Riyadh Adam (39), Devendra Chetty (49) and Ugeshan Govender (39). They all face charges of torture, attempted murder, murder, kidnapping and defeating the administration of justice.
Timothy Naidoo, Regan’s father, said: “To see them all in the court, some of whom I interacted with on the night my son was killed, was very painful. We find little comfort in knowing that justice will be served and we hope that there will be justice for my son.”
He added that the post-mortem results conducted by specialist forensic pathologist, Reggie Perumal, whose services were enlisted after he became suspicious of allegations by senior police officers that his son had died after he choked on a pie while in their custody, revealed that his son died from multiple fractures and a blunt force injury to the head which caused his death.
Naidoo said injuries inflicted on his son, a 32-year-old security technician and the sole breadwinner of the family, included blunt force injury to the chest, buttocks and thighs. “He was injured so severely that he suffered bruising, multiple fractured ribs, lung contusions and subdural haemorrhage.
A blood toxicology analysis did not find any alcohol or illicit drugs in his system. No food was found in his system either, further falsifying the police officer’s allegations on the manner in which my son died,” he said.
All 21 suspects were initially released on bail of R3 000 after their first appearances. They will all re-appear at the Durban Magistrate’s Court later in December.
