Phahlane to brief media on chief justice office robbery

22nd March 2017 By: News24Wire

Phahlane to brief media on chief justice office robbery

Acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane

Acting national police commissioner Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane is expected to brief the media on Wednesday on the recent robbery at the offices of the chief justice in Midrand. Phahlane said at the weekend that a multi-disciplinary task team was investigating the robbery that occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning.

A total of 15 computers containing confidential information of all the South African judges, judiciary staff and all the courts were stolen from the office.

Phahlane said a team led by deputy provincial commissioner of crime detection in Gauteng, Major General Mary Motsepe, had been appointed to expedite the processing of the crime scene.

The police deemed the break-in at the offices of the chief justice as an attack on the judicial system and viewed it in a serious light, he said.

“We condemn in the strongest terms this unfortunate incident; we have assembled a team of detectives to process the investigation. The team is working around the clock with a view to bring the perpetrators of this crime to book," Phahlane said previously.

Phahlane said he would sanction a security assessment for the purposes of advising on the enhancement of security at the offices.

Phahlane said that in a separate incident, a South Gauteng High Court judge was robbed at his place of residence.

The matter was the subject of a police investigation, he said.