VIP protection officer's son finally in court after AfriForum intervention

A 19-year-old man who was involved in an accident which caused the death of an elderly Brits man in 2021 appeared in court on Thursday. 

The incident happened after he allegedly stole his father’s car for a joyride with his friends. 

Kgaugelo Masenya, 19, made a brief appearance in the Brits magistrate’s court and the case was postponed until next Wednesday. Masenya was charged with culpable homicide and driving a vehicle without a licence. He was 16 at the time of the incident. 

Patrick Jewell, 65, died nearly three weeks after the September 21 2021 crash.

AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, which represents Jewell’s daughter, Jacky Jewell, became involved after she approached the unit for help because of the police’s failure to investigate the case. 

The accused teenager’s father is a captain in the police’s VIP protection unit.

“It is suspected that the failure to investigate the case is an example of police officers covering for their colleagues,” AfriForum's unit said in a statement. 

Jewell was struck on the pavement outside his house while loading water bottles into his vehicle to water the flowers at his wife’s gravesite.

“Surveillance footage shows a white BMW X5 speeding around a corner, losing control and colliding with the small car where Jewell was standing. Jewell was critically injured and transported to hospital where he died 20 days later.” 

Jacky Jewell had obtained the surveillance footage of the crash within two months of the incident as well as the contact details of the person who owned the footage.

“This was provided to the investigating officer. Six months later he had still not obtained the video footage. Further, the investigating officer had not collected an affidavit from an eyewitness, which was drafted six weeks after the incident.”

In May 2022, having learnt of the investigating officer’s conduct, the unit filed a complaint against the investigating officer with provincial police managers.

By July 2022, having not received any meaningful response from the provincial office, the unit complained to the police’s national office. It was then that the matter was allegedly properly investigated. The docket was eventually sent to court in May last year and a decision was made to prosecute Masenya.

The AfriForum unit’s spokesperson, Barry Bateman said the unit had previously dealt with cases where detectives failed to investigate crimes.

“In this matter, we suspect that the status of the father of the accused was a factor in this failure to investigate. This offends the principle that everyone is equal before the law and can simply not be tolerated,” Bateman said.

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