South African police officers (File photo)

 

Five South African policemen have appeared in court on Friday for allegedly robbing a Nigerian man of the sum of 61,000 US Dollars (N21million), Channels reported.

 

Four of the officers have now been dismissed from the police service over the incident and are also currently being prosecuted following an investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).

 

It was gathered that the five former policemen were caught on tape robbing the Nigerian man who deals in electronics on July 16, 2015.

 

During the hearing in court, a set of DVDs were distributed to the lawyers of the five accused police officers, to which they complained of being ambushed by the prosecution.

 

An eyewitness said an unverified but large amount of money and a pack of sim card were taken from the Nigerian man. The 42-year-old Nigerian claims he had concluded a forex transaction prior to a business trip when he was arrested by the policemen, taken back to his hotel room where his money was allegedly confiscated but not recorded at the Pretoria police station where he was detained for a night.

 

He said in court that he hopes for justice as he has done nothing wrong. The case was adjourned to November 13th, 2017 to allow the counsel to the accused person view the CCTV footage presented by the prosecution in court and also allow the current witness, the General Manager of the hotel in which the incident allegedly took place, to be cross-examined.