Justice delayed: widow waits seven years for trial in police torture case

NIGHTMARE FILLED WITH GRIEF, SORROW AND TRAUMA

- YOSHINI PERUMAL

SEVEN years after Regan Naidoo died from torture in Chatsworth police custody, his widow and children continue to wait for justice as the trial of 14 police officers faces yet another delay.

“The wheels of justice turn too slowly,” said Shanice Naidoo, who was pregnant when her husband was killed.

The trial of 14 police officers charged with Regan Naidoo’s murder was due to start in the Durban Magistrate’s Court last week, but was postponed again due to delays from the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP).

Naidoo, 32, a security technician, was allegedly killed while in custody at the Chatsworth police station holding cells.

He was detained at the station on August 28, 2018, for questioning regarding the sale of a firearm that had been used in the murder of an alleged hitman from Umlazi, Xolani Zungu.

Zungu was shot dead in Chatsworth on August 23, 2018.

The morning after his arrest, police told Naidoo’s father that he had choked on a pie and had died in the holding cells. However, Naidoo had sustained multiple injuries, including bruising, multiple fractured ribs, lung bruising and haemorrhaging.

A postmortem conducted by private pathologist Reggie Perumal, revealed that Naidoo had died from multiple fractures and blunt force injury to the head, and not due to choking from his food.

In September, a leaked audio recording of a consultation between the State and witnesses had led to the postponement of the trial.

Defence attorneys for the 14 accused officers jointly requested a postponement in the Durban Magistrate’s Court after the audio recording surfaced.