Police Officers who were accused of murdering Mthokozisi Ntumba found not guilty.

The four police officers who were accused of killing Mthokozisi Ntumba had charges dropped and were found not guilty on Tuesday.

source:IOL

The Johannesburg High Court acquitted the officers on murder charges for the death of Ntumba on 10 March last year, who was killed during a student protest in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. During the trail on Monday, the lawyers who were representing the accused police officers argued that the charges the officers faced should be dropped because of the footage that was displayed in court.

The footage presented in court showed that the officers opened fire with rubber bullets towards a group of students who were protesting outside TVET College. Ntumba, 35, was shot during a student protest in March last year. The four officers were arrested by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) right after a few days Ntumba was murdered. Cidrass Motseothatha, 35, Madimetja Legodi, 37, Tshepiso Kekana, 27 and Victor Mohammmed , 51 were charged with murder and three counts of attempted murder.

The four officers also pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. Judge Mawabo Malangeni said that they could not find any credible evidence that would have found the officers guilty. The judge said that the case was based on circumstantial evidence presented by the footage that was obtained from the clinic next to the Johannesburg Institute of Engineering and Technology College.

Ntumba complained about a stomach ache before attending the protest and consulted with a doctor at the clinic.

By Lulama Klassen