Convicted EL drug dealer cop denied appeal

The East London Magistrate’s court on Tuesday denied convicted drug dealer cop Reneal Francis leave to appeal his drug case conviction as well as a 15-year sentence.

The disgraced former cop was last month sentenced to 15 years behind bars for drug dealing.

Francis, 34, was found guilty on two counts of drug dealing after he sold 96 mandrax tablets in November 2012 to undercover Hawks officers.

He was arrested with four former police officers in April 2013. All five were in their early 30s and attached to the Mdantsane NU1 station’s crime prevention unit.

The officers raided the homes of drug dealers in the township, and instead of entering the drugs into evidence; they sold the seized drugs back to the community.

The police officials would look for potential buyers, be it people who had already been identified by themselves or possibly new individuals willing to purchase drugs or tablets from them.

In passing down judgement, magistrate Saida Jacobs said the court had to impose an appropriate sentence on the former disgraced policeman. She said Francis , who holds a diploma in Information Technology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal committed the crime out of greed. The other four policemen were sentenced to between 12-15 years each in 2014.