Cape Town - A corrupt cop will remain behind bars after his application for leave to appeal against his conviction and 15-year sentence failed in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
Reneal Francis, a former police officer who was stationed at the crime prevention unit in Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape, was convicted on two charges of dealing in drugs, contravening the Drug Trafficking Act, and was subsequently jailed for 15 years.
According to court documents, Francis was one of a group of corrupt officers who conducted drug raids. When confiscating the drugs, the corrupt cabal would not book in all the seized drugs, and the spoils that they kept were sold by them to enrich themselves.
Francis’s matter came to the SCA after he was denied leave to appeal in the trial court, as well as the high courts. He was caught following an undercover operation that revealed the corruption.
“The Organised Crime Unit in conjunction with crime intelligence of the SAPS in East London initiated operation ‘Cooler-Bag’, an undercover operation. An undercover agent was used to infiltrate and befriend Francis and to arrange for the purchase of drugs. The agent was provided with audio and video equipment to record the transactions.
“The agent testified that on two separate occasions Francis first sold 46 and then 50 tablets containing methaqualone (Mandrax), on November 14 and November 30, 2012, respectively. Mandrax is an undesirable dependence-producing substance in terms of the Drugs Act, and thus dealing therein is illegal,” the judgment read.
Court documents detailed that Francis – a father and husband and sole breadwinner – was 28 years old at the time of his arrest, and served six years as a police officer in the SAPS, obtaining a diploma in information technology.
Judge Daisy Molefe said: “It is a serious aggravating factor for a law enforcement officer to be involved in criminal activities, because that is an abuse of the position of trust society has placed in them. Abuse of drugs is prevalent in the society that Francis was supposed to serve and protect.
“He, a police officer whose primary duty was to uphold the law and curb the commission of offences, abused his position of power and authority and fuelled the drug abuse problem he had been employed to eradicate. He was more so employed in a department responsible to combat drug dealing and was not remorseful.”
Cape Times