French fugitives Philippe Meniere and his wife Agnes Jardel committed suicide, says the Independent Complaints Directorate. Photo: SA Police Service French fugitives Philippe Meniere and his wife Agnes Jardel committed suicide, says the Independent Complaints Directorate. Photo: SA Police Service
French fugitives Philippe Meniere and his wife Agnes Jardel committed suicide, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) said on Thursday.
Addressing a media briefing in Cape Town on the outcome of the ICD's investigation into the death of the French couple in January this year, ICD executive director Francois Beukman said the cause of death was “self-inflicted contact gun shots to the heads”.
Meniere shot his wife dead and then turned the gun on himself.
Beukman said it was evident from the post mortem examination that the wounds inflicted from shots fired by police were not the cause of death.
The couple was already “clinically dead”.
“In summary, considering the contents of the SAPS members' statements, the post mortem reports, the ballistics report and from observations made, it can be concluded that the deaths... cannot be attributed to the actions of the SAPS members and that the cause of death was self inflicted contact gun shots to the heads.”
Meniere, 60, and Jardel, 55, were on the run for six days following the shooting of Constable Jacob Boleme on January 14 at the farmhouse they occupied near Sutherland.
The farm's owner called the police on that day after he had tried unsuccessfully to evict the couple from his house. Shots were fired from the house as police approached, and Boleme was killed. The couple then fled into the bush.
Police launched a manhunt on foot and by air, with over 70
police officers with trackers and dogs searching the 3000ha farm for six days before the couple was found in a vacant farmhouse.
“As police approached, the man shot his wife twice in the head and then shot himself in the temple,” Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela said at the time.
He then Meniere did not die after he shot himself, but only after being struck in the stomach and legs during a gunfight with police.
But head of the ICD in the Northern Cape, Dan Morema, on Thursday denied this. He said police heard gunshots as they approached the house, could have been under the impression they were being shot at and returned fire.
“Yes they had gunshot wounds on their bodies, but it wasn't the cause of death.”
He said police were heavily armed during their search because the couple had M16s and 9mm rifles.
The ICD did not investigate Boleme's death because “it was an issue where the couple shot a constable. It was by a civilian. Its not in our (ICD) mandate,” Morema added.
The ICD investigates alleged criminality and misconduct by police officers.
On the Jeanette Odendaal case, Beukman said the ICD welcomed the Wednesday's decision by the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court. Bail was refused to Sergeant Manape Phineas Kgoale, 38, accused of shooting dead 45-year-old Odendaal. He allegedly killed Odendaal outside the Kempton Park police station last Tuesday after she crashed into a police car.
On the case involving crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli, ICD spokesman Moses Dlamini said they were only investigating four cases of assault and a “new allegation” of robbery of a firearm.
He said the ICD had received complaints from people alleging they had been assaulted by police officers outside the court where Mdluli and three co-accused appeared for their alleged involvement in a decade-old love triangle murder.
Regarding the case of Andries Tatane, killed during a protest in Ficksburg, Beukman said no further arrests had been made. Tatane was allegedly shot at point-blank range with rubber bullets and beaten with rubber truncheons. Eight policemen accused of killing him, were refused bail in the Ficksburg Magistrate's Court last week.
Beukman said new legislation that would strengthen the police watchdog and give it more muscle to act against officers was expected to come into effect later this year.
Under the new law, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) would replace the ICD. The police were currently not obligated to carry out disciplinary recommendations by the ICD.
But with the introduction of IPID, not only would officers be compelled to act on the ICD’s instruction, they would also have to monitor and report back on any disciplinary action initiated.
Beukman said IPID would also allow them more resources to conduct investigations and ensure all complaints against the police were investigated, not just those where police were accused of killing someone.
Statistics and further information on all cases being investigated by the ICD would be released in September. -
Sapa