Cops guilty in S. Africa dog case
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- Two white South African policemen who set dogs on three black Mozambican immigrants in a so-called "training exercise" were found guilty of assault on Tuesday by a Pretoria court.
The verdict tied up one of the most horrific police brutality cases of the post-apartheid era, in which six white policemen were videotaped laughing as they ordered their dogs to attack the defenceless immigrants in a field near Johannesburg.
Nicolaas Loubser and Dino Guitto had been the only policemen to deny guilt after the 1998 incident. Their colleagues entered guilty pleas and received sentences of up to five years in jail in 2001, but Loubser and Guitto argued they had been forced to join in the exercise against their will.
The Pretoria High Court rejected their claims, with the judge saying the video evidence showed clearly that they were willing participants.
The two were also convicted of attempting to fill in false reports in a notebook and a register in an attempt to exonerate themselves.
Sentencing was postponed until May 15. The two could face five years in prison for their crimes.
"They were each found guilty on three counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and one count of attempting to defeat the ends of justice," police spokesman Martin Aylward said.
South Africans were shocked by the video of the attack, broadcast in 2000 over state owned SABC television. It showed the officers laughing as they set the dogs upon the three Mozambicans, whose pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears.
The tape had allegedly been circulated at police parties and was obtained by the SABC.
The attack had been planned as an exercise to cure Guitto's dog of its reluctance to bite. But even after the dog had been taught, the animals continued to attack while their handlers kicked and assaulted the injured men, the court heard.
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