Jan Rodrigues, who’s now 78, told the court then that Ahmed Timol had committed suicide by jumping out of the window on the 10th floor of what was then called John Vorster Square.

Timol’s family maintain he was thrown out of the window by police.

The re-opened inquest in the Gauteng High Court goes into its 14th day today (Thursday).

Ahmed Timol’s family say they are amazed at how much they’ve learned about the young school teacher’s death.

Ex security policeman Jan Rodrigues says Timol was left with him on October 27, 1971 when his two interrogators left the room.

Timol asked to go to the toilet.

When he was allowed to stand, he rushed to the window and jumped out.

Advocate Howard Varney, for the Timol family, put it that the room was so small, Rodrigues could easily have stopped the physically slighter detainee.

Earlier the counsel for the Department of Public Prosecutions put it to Rodrigues that he was tailoring his evidence, as he had in 1971, to suit the police version of events.

The Timol case never came up in the nineties, after democracy in South Africa, when a truth and reconciliation commission offered apartheid offenders the chance of immunity if they gave truthful evidence about their  crimes.

The post Apartheid era policeman told he’s lying about Ahmed Timol’s death appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Judge Selby Baqwa has made a controversial finding in the Pretoria High Cour that the prisoner Clive Derby Lewis has the right to die with dignity

Judge Selby Baqwa says Justice Minister Michael Masutha unfairly denied Clive Derby Lewis medical parole four months ago.

He cannot hand the matter back to the minister because two independent doctors say the plaintiff has less than two months to live.

Clive Derby-Lewis was sentenced to death for providing the gun that killed Chris Hani 22 years ago.

He escaped the hangman because capital punishment was abolished by the ANC government.

He’s served 21 years in jail.

He showed no remorse for his action and was not considered for pardon by the Truth and Reconcialiation Commission.

Lately he’s sought to apologise to Hani’s widow Limpho but she’s refused to see him.

She left the court yesterday declining to comment.

Police Union spokesman Richard Mamabolo says he’s really disappointed Derby-Lewis will be set free because he’s not shown remorse.

Trade union leader Zwelinzima Vavi says the decision will spark an angry backlash.

Corne Mulder of the predominantly white Freedom Front Plus party says the parole’s long overdue.

The post Apartheid killer gets medical parole appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.