Policemen found guilty of attacking blacks with dogs

Four of the six policemen who admitted setting dogs on three black men in South Africa have been found guilty of assault.

They had each pleaded guilty on three charges of assault following a videoed attack.

The four told the Pretoria High Court the 1998 event was an exercise aimed at teaching inexperienced police dogs to attack on instruction.

Prosecutors withdrew corruption charges against the four men - Jacobus Smith, 31, Lodewyk Koch, 32, Robert Henzen, 32, and Eugene Truter, 28.

The other two accused, Nicolaas Kenneth Loubser and Dino Guiotto, both 27, deny guilt on all charges.

The officers were suspended from their duties without pay. Loubser, Guiotto and Truter subsequently resigned from the police force.

The video of the 1998 attack was apparently made by one of the officers and later broadcast by state television. It allegedly showed the police setting their dogs on three Mozambicans, punching them and yelling racial slurs.

The six men had been free on bail until the start of the trial.

The judge ruled that two separate trials should take place - one for the four convicted men, and another for the two who pleaded not guilty.

The trial of Smith, Koch, Henzen and Truter has been postponed until Wednesday, when their lawyers are due to give evidence in support of reducing their sentences. Loubser and Guiotto are scheduled to go on trial in June.