Richard Mdluli acquitted of intimidation charges
The acquittal is in line with a Constitutional Court decision declaring certain sections of the Intimidation Act unconstitutional
Former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli has been acquitted of four counts of intimidation following a ruling by the Constitutional Court, which declared a section of the Intimidation Act unconstitutional.
Mdluli will therefore only be sentenced on the two charges of assault with the intention to do grievous bodily harm and two charges of kidnapping, which he was convicted of by the high court earlier in 2019. Sentencing on those was postponed to February 2020.
Gauteng National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said on Thursday that Mdluli was acquitted on the intimidation charges following the October judgment.
“The deliberations before the court, as advanced by the state, were that Mr Richard Mdluli was now entitled to an acquittal on all four counts of intimidation as per the apex court ruling,” Mjonondwane said.
She said that fairness and justice dictated that Mdluli be acquitted, and that the NPA accepted the court's ruling, changing the verdict from guilty to an acquittal.
She said he was still guilty on two counts of assault with the intention to do grievous bodily harm and two counts of kidnapping.
Earlier in 2019 Mdluli and his co-accused, Mthembeni Mthunzi, were found guilty by the court on multiple charges related to the kidnapping and assault of the partner of Mdluli’s former lover.
In 1999, Oupa Ramogibe, who was married to Mdluli’s former partner, was shot just months after he opened a case of attempted murder at the Vosloorus police station, where Mdluli was head of the detective branch.
Mdluli was eventually charged in 2011 on charges of murder, attempted murder, intimidation, kidnapping, assault, grievous bodily harm, conspiracy to commit murder and defeating and/or obstructing the course of justice.
The charges against him were withdrawn in April 2012. But nongovernmental organisation Freedom Under Law took the decision to withdraw the charges to court and successfully had it reviewed and set aside.
The murder charges were not reinstated, as Mdluli was cleared of involvement in Ramogibe’s murder in an inquest, but he was finally found guilty of the other charges in July.