Daughter of former Hawks boss found guilty of intimidation, crimen injuria

The daughter of former Hawks boss Berning Ntlemeza has been found guilty of intimidation and crimen injuria for threatening to kill a police officer, who was a complainant against her father, and accusing him of "terrorising" her family.

The officer, Captain Boitumelo Ramahlala, had previously opened cases against Ntlemeza for corruption and defeating the ends of justice after he alleged a docket against a Limpopo police officer had mysteriously disappeared.

Ntlemeza has repeatedly denied the allegations.

In 2017, a recorded telephone conversation between Ramahlala and Ntlemeza's daughter, Anele, surfaced in which she could be heard saying, "Stop messing around with my family or I will come after you with everything I've got. I will go as far as killing you."

The phone call was made soon after Ntlemeza lost an application in the High Court in Pretoria in 2017 in which he attempted to interdict then-police minister Fikile Mbalula from removing him as the Hawk's head. That application was struck from the roll.

Ramahlaha, during the conversation, asks: "Are you willing to kill me for Ntlemeza?"

The verbal spat did not end at one call. In subsequent phone calls - all recorded - Anele repeats that she wants to kill Ramahlaha that night, plans to attend his funeral, and that the Ntlemeza's are roaming the streets of Pretoria looking for him.

Anele was found guilty on both counts. For intimidation, she was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, while on count two, she was ordered to pay a R20 000 fine or face six months in jail, wholly suspended for six years.

Responding to the sentencing, Ramahlala said: "I can't speak to the media, I am a policeman focusing on gangs and serious crimes in Tshwane."