On Thursday, the Polokwane Magistrate's Court in South Africa heard the case involving five Limpopo police officers who beat a Nigerian man to death in Limpopo.
The officers are accused of beating Onyechiabi Iwuaka to death. The Nigerian had gone to visit a friend on May 21 when the officers arrived. The friend escaped but Iwuaka wasn't so lucky.
"I put it to you that you beat him, he fainted and you resuscitated him. He woke up and... you beat him again," prosecutor Jacky Mabasa told the officers during cross-examination.
"You also sprinkled water on him."
The names of the five officers are Boitumelo Ramahlala, Mashiba Mathata, Collins Sekoati, Thabo Mabotja and Clement Tsotsane. Charges of murder and assault were brought against them.
During Thursday's court proceedings, the court was told the officers stopped on the way to the police station to buy water, as Iwuaka was bleeding from his ears. It was only after Iwuaka had died that an ambulance was called.
"The reason you cannot tell me specifically what you did that day is because you assaulted him. That's why you cannot tell what you did," Mabasa said.
The court was told Iwuaka was merely in his friend's home, and was the wrong person to be arrested.
The officers evaded questions, claiming that they never accused or hurt anyone, prompting magistrate Janine Ungerer to question if they shared the same holding cell. She suspected they had coached each other on how to respond to questions.
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