Well-known traffic officer Terrence Bafo has appealed after he lost his case against Grahamstown resident Adrian Bowles in the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court recently.
Well-known traffic officer Terrence Bafo has appealed after he lost his case against Grahamstown resident Adrian Bowles in the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court recently.
Bowles was acquitted on two charges following his arrest by Bafo in Bathurst Street, in April 2009. Bafo had accused him of swearing at him, pointing his finger at him, hitting his forehead and threatening him, and had charged him with resisting arrest and driving without a seatbelt.
Bowles told Grocott's Mail that on the day of the incident he was on his way to install a storm water pipe for a government department when he realised he needed some supplies. He said that driving along High Street to Penny Pinchers, in Bathurst Street, he saw Bafo's car parked outside Standard Bank.
When Bowles turned into Bathurst Street, he said, he realised Bafo was following him. "Due to previous altercations I knew he was going to try fine me something again," Bowles said. According to Bowles, Bafo's car had no lights on, and the siren was not on.
When Bowles stopped at Penny Pinchers, he said, the officer also parked. "I got out and asked what he wanted now," Bowles said. According to Bowles, Bafo did not respond as he sat in his car. Bowles said it was only when he asked for the second time that Bafo responded, telling him he hadn't been wearing his seatbelt.
"I gave him my licence and proceeded into Penny Pinchers." Bowles said when he came out of the store, he had confronted Bafo about what he claimed was constant victimisation. Bowles said there was no way Bafo could have seen whether he was wearing his seatbelt, because he had been parked with his back to the passing traffic when he passed him parked outside Standard Bank.
He said Bafo ignored his questions at least twice. "I then proceeded to wave my hand in front of his face to get his attention. Suddenly he threw his hat on the passenger's seat and flung his door open and charged me with an object in his hand that he had taken from his car, which I initially thought was a gun. "I retreated from him and realised it was pepper spray," Bowles said.
Then Bafo told Bowles he was going to arrest him and phoned the police. A policeman arrived and arrested Bowles. Bafo kept telling Bowles that he was going to teach him a lesson, said Bowles. Bowles said he had tried to lay a counter-charge of harassment and victimisation against Bafo in vain.
The officer said he would do this when they arrived at the police station. "When I got there, I went into the charge office to make (open) my case. Then suddenly the policeman and Mr Bafo grabbed me by my arms and led me to the back to the jail cells."
With the intervention of his advocate, Bowles finally managed to get out of jail at 7pm, but said the trauma had been huge for him and his family, especially his young children, whom he said now feared the police.
He said, "I will be suing Mr Bafo and the Makana Municipality for malicious prosecution. It's not about the money, but about justice and for all the other Grahamstown residents whom Mr Bafo victimises on a daily basis." Bowles was also happy to mention that since his acquittal, the procedure for arrests done by traffic cops had changed in Grahamstown.
He said, "An officer must now call his supervisor to a scene if he sees the need to arrest someone." Bafo told Grocott's Mail that he had appealed the case immediately after Bowles's acquittal and thus couldn't comment on the matter until he got a response to his appeal.
