Cop found guilty of culpable homicide

A former police constable Walter Francis was found guilty of culpable homicide in the Port Elizabeth High Court.
A former police constable Walter Francis was found guilty of culpable homicide in the Port Elizabeth High Court.
Image: Devon Koen

A former police constable accused of murder and charged with unlawfully handing over his firearm to a known gangster has been found guilty of culpable homicide in the Port Elizabeth High Court.

Judge Jannie Eksteen found that the state failed to prove disgraced former Port Elizabeth policeman Walter Francis had conspired with deceased gangster Shane Potberg to kill rival gang member Denton Rademeyer in October 2014 - but found that he was negligent in handing his service weapon to Potberg who allegedly shot and killed Rademeyer.

Eksteen found Francis was negligent in that he should have foreseen the possibility that his firearm would have been used in the commission of a murder.

Francis was subsequently acquitted on the charge of murder and unlawfully handing over his firearm.

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