S.African cop ‘was saving’ Mozambican dragged to his death

One of the South African policemen on trial for the death of a Mozambican man who died after being dragged behind a moving police van testified Thursday that he wanted to save him.

Mido Macia, a taxi driver, was found dead in a police cell in February 2013 after he was handcuffed to the back of a police van and dragged hundreds of metres (yards) in Daveyton, east of Johannesburg.

Eight officers are currently standing trial for his murder.

One of them, Thamsanqa Ngema, told the Pretoria High court that he had tried to help the victim.

“I didn’t have any intention to harm him. I was saving him during the dragging,” ANA news agency reported Ngema as saying.

The police had arrested Macia, 27, for obstructing traffic with his taxi.

Nine officers were initially charged with Macia’s murder, with one acquitted this week.

The officers were fired from their jobs, and they have given conflicting accounts of the incident since the trial began on Monday.

Footage of the dragging was filmed by bystanders and circulated online, prompting a public outcry both from South Africa and Mozambique.

A pathologist this week testified that there were blood spots on the walls and floor of the cell where Macia’s body was found and that he had swelling on the top and back of the skull.

The Macia family are suing the police for the death.

Authorities revealed on Monday that they won’t oppose the civil case, saying in a statement they “will not allow for this matter to become a long drawn out court battle.”

The murder case continues.