Cape Town - Former police captain, Esmeralda Bailey, will approach the Western Cape High Court to overturn her conviction for corruption after her recent leave to appeal was denied.
The 56-year-old, who helped secure the conviction of child killer, Dina Rodriguez, was handed an 11-year jail term for selling police uniforms, stealing exhibits and other crimes.
The former Hawks detective was catapulted into the spotlight several years ago when Rodriguez, along with her co-accused, went on trial for the murder of baby Jordan-Leigh Norton.
Rodriguez was found guilty of masterminding the murder of little Jordan-Leigh inside her Lansdowne home on June 15, 2005. Rodriguez had hired the hitmen, who pretended to be from a courier company, and offered them R10 000 for the murder.
In December 2011, the Hawks swooped on Bailey’s home in Brooklyn, in an undercover sting operation.
At the time, the Hawks revealed she had allegedly sold police uniforms and ammunition to Waleed Hendricks.
Former Hawks spokesperson, McIntosh Polela, said an agent allegedly bought unlicensed ammunition from Hendricks for R4 000 and Hendricks then allegedly pointed out Bailey as the person who had supplied him with the ammunition.
Polela said when police had arrived at Bailey’s flat in Brooklyn, two known Kensington gangsters had been there.
Bailey was released on R10 000 bail and earlier this year she was convicted in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
In her appeal, Bailey’s lawyer, William Booth, said the magistrate had erred in the conviction by allowing the evidence in the sting operation to be admitted into evidence as there was no warrant.
Booth also argued that the magistrate relied too heavily on the information provided by the State witness, who admitted to being a heroin addict and was under the influence at the time of the incident. Bailey had registered an attempted murder case against the State witness dating back to 2011.
Booth also questioned why the State witness’s property was not searched to investigate the claims by Bailey when they both lived in the same apartment complex.
Booth confirmed the leave to appeal at the Regional Court was denied and said they would now launch an appeal at the Western Cape High Court.
mahira.duval@inl.co.za
Cape Argus