After two stressful years, Warrant Officer Derik van Heerden can celebrate being back at work and the birth of his daughter.
|||“I only did my duty as best I could because I want to keep the streets safe for my family and others to sleep at night,” a police reservist with 19 years’ service, said after being acquitted on a charge of murder for shooting a fleeing suspect.
Within hours of having his name cleared, Warrant Officer Derik van Heerden of the Hercules police station was back on the streets to do what he loves best. This was after he had been suspended from working for more than two years.
Van Heerden, who is stationed at the Hercules police station, had the charge hanging over his head since April 2010.
He was charged with murder, although post-mortem reports proved that the suspect was shot in the stomach from the front.
The suspect, Van Heerden and other witnesses said, had pointed a firearm at him. “To me, it was a life and death situation and I had to protect myself,” Van Heerden said.
The police found the gun in a veld in Pretoria Gardens where the suspect was eventually apprehended – but it was a toy gun.
“How was I to know it was a toy gun? It was dark and to me the gun looked real. Was I supposed to first ask him whether it was a real gun?”
This sentiment was shared by a Pretoria Regional Court magistrate who acquitted Van Heerden last week. The magistrate also questioned how police members could be expected to first establish whether a suspect was armed with a real gun or a toy. He asked whether the policeman first had to wait for the suspect to shoot at him, to establish if the gun was real.
Van Heerden’s lawyer, Konrad Rontgen, told the Pretoria News that Van Heerden should never have been charged. Apart from the post-mortem showing the man was not shot from behind, the correct procedure would have been to first hold an inquest to establish whether someone should be held liable, Rontgen said.
Van Heerden was on duty on April 2, 2010, when he and a colleague received a call on the police radio of an alarm going off at a house in Pretoria Gardens.
While checking the premises they got another call that the suspects were making their way past the house in a BMW.
Van Heerden and his colleague went after them in a police vehicle with flashing lights and sirens.
“The suspects sped on, skipping several stop streets and jumping a red light. The vehicle stopped on the corner of Bremer and Van der Hoff Road and Van Heerden got out and went to the driver.
“The vehicle sped off again and we gave chase. I fired a warning shot. The driver jumped out of the moving vehicle, which then crashed into a tree. I chased the suspect, shouting at him that I was police and that he had to stop.
“He turned towards me on the run and pointed a firearm at me. I fired two shots, but he continued to run into the bushes.”
Van Heerden went back to his vehicle to get back-up and a torch and then went to search for the man.
He found him lying on his back, holding his stomach. The suspect, who was identified as Shadrack Maboea, was taken to Kalafong Hospital, where he was certified dead on arrival.
The case docket which was opened stated that Maboea was due to be charged with reckless and negligent driving, not for house breaking.
The case was given to a detective to investigate, who recommended to the director of public prosecutions that Van Heerden be charged with murder as there was no proof the suspect committed housebreaking.
Van Heerden was suspended when he was issued with a summons three weeks later.
“These things just break you. All I wanted to be was a good cop and to make the streets safe. It was my life dream to become a policeman.”
Van Heerden said he pleaded with his senior officers to assist him as the incident occurred while he was on duty.
They said they could do nothing and referred him to the provincial SAPS office. Only after much pleading did they eventually agree to pay for a lawyer. The case lasted two years.
“It feels like a mountain has been lifted off my shoulders. I was told that if I was convicted, I would spend 15 years in jail.
“I just did my work and I did not shoot somebody on purpose. This is the first time I’ve killed anyone. This was tough on my whole family and my wife sat in court crying her heart out.”
Van Heerden, who became a dad a few days before his acquittal, said while he was bitter that he did not get any support from his superiors, he would not give up his dream.
“It felt good to be back on Friday night, knowing I could do something to make this a safer place. My advice to people is to be very careful, because if you shoot somebody who is running away from you in the back, you are in a lot of trouble.”
Pretoria News