A Durban policeman and three others robbed a bottle store during which they severely traumatised a woman, the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate's Court heard on Monday.

The four were later arrested in a stolen vehicle while driving along a back city road. In the car police found a pistol from which the serial numbers had been obliterated, R600 which they allegedly took from the bottle store, bottles of liquor from which fingerprints of the complainant were lfited, and a toy pistol.

This evidence was given while the four were applying for bail on Monday.

The policeman is Constable Nkosinathi Buthelezi (38) of Umlazi, Durban.

Pietermaritzburg magistrate Divesh Mootheram reserved judgment to 23 September.

Investigating officer Inspector Derek Coetzee told the court one of the four, Skhumbuso Khanyile (40) had previously been arrested for seven robberies but had always been released.

Prosecutor Pranisha Kassool told the court that Khanyile faced charges of rape, kidnap and attempted murder in Umlazi.

Coetzee said Khanyile's finger prints had been lifted at a Boston business that he robbed previously but he had not been charged for the robbery.

Buthelezi has been suspended and is to face an internal disciplinary hearing.

The other accused are Sbonisa Ngobhozi (24) and Sandile Blose (28).

Coetzee said they robbed the Shosholoza Bottle Store in Grange on 27 July after driving up in the stolen vehicle with a NRB number plate in front and none at the back.

Three men rushed into the store, one jumped over a security mesh on top of the counter and terrified a woman into a state of shock.

They took R600 and bottles of alcohol.

Coetzee opposed bail for several reasons.

He said that they may abscond and not stand trial, because the State had a strong case and they knew if convicted they would receive long-term sentences for armed robbery and possession of a weapon from which the serial numbers were erased.