Police torture victim in front of community
members
A doctor confirmed that his ribs are broken and his eyes needs to be
treated.
Nomvula
Chawane | 18 December 2013 16:41
MARITE –
A 41 year-old man from Marite was tortured by police while members of the
community watched from a distance on Saturday.
According
to Mr DennisMathabela, the police knocked at his house in the early hours of
the morning,demanding that he must open his door.
“When
they knocked, I didn’t respond at
first
because I wanted to be sure that they were really police, and then they
broke my
back door, but they couldn’t get to my room that is when they broke the
other
door from the garage to gain access to the room that I was sleeping in.”
he said.
Mathebela
said that after they managed to get into the house theydemanded that he must
give them the weapon he was carrying in his car.“Theydemanded that I give them
the guns which they said they saw me putting in my carand when I told them I do
not have them, one of the officers started to beat meup and tried to suffocate
me with my blankets while others turned the roomupside down claiming to search
for the gun” explained Mathabela.He furthersaid after searching the house and
not finding anything, they started torturinghim.
“They put
a plastic around my face with pepper in it making sure that it
goes
straight to my eyes, and I kept on telling them that I don’t have a gun in
the house
but they started to kick me on my stomach. My words were not enough
for them,
because one of them used a knife to cut the flesh on my fingers while
the other
one pushed me to the ground and stepped on my neck” he said.
Hesaid
the torture lasted for two hours while other officers were standing outside
making
sure that no one enters the house to rescue Him. After they realised that
there was
no gun in the house and he was too weak to stand or talk they took to
him
Calcutta police station.
“When we got to the police station they
refusedto take me in, instead they brought me back to my house. I asked them to
give mea warrant of search before they leave but they refused and left” he
saidMathebala’s Doctor confirmed to Mpumalanga News that his ribs arebroken and
his eyes will need to be treated because of the chilies.
One ofthe
neighbours who was watching the horrible scene and wanted to remain
anonymous
said that when he saw the police van coming he went to investigate
what was
happening but he was instructed to go back to his house and he refused.
He added
that early this year they broke in to one of Mathebela’s friends house
Vusi
Sibiya and beat up the young man demanding that he must give them the guns
that
Mathabela gave him to hide for him.
“One of
the officers told me to go back to the house but I refused because I was in my
yard and then I heard loud screams. I managed to see all the horrible things
they were doing to him through the window but there was nothing I could do
because even other members of the community were watching from a distance and
it was a terrible thing to watch” said the neighbour.
The
neighbour and other members of the community canconfirm that the torture lasted
for two hours while Mathabela was screaminghelplessly in his house.
The
police said they cannot comment on the matteruntil Mathabela presses charges
against the officers, while the communicationofficer at Calcutta police station
Luiternent Makhubela said that police are notallowed to beat anyone even if the
suspect is guilty and torture is banned inthe country.
