How the South African Police Service Deal with Violent Crime
Quote: “The daughter managed to wriggle herself free and contacted the neighbours, who in their turn phoned the Modjadjiskloof police station, but nobody answered the phone.
The police officers, who eventually arrived two hours later, then proceeded to question the victims, in their apparent stupidity of not knowing the difference between a housebreaking and a robbery. They took 4 statements from Reinetha, after she had to repeat everything ten times. According to Reinetha, the police could not understand her language and were unable to write. She eventually told them that she’d had enough and needed to visit a doctor.
The officers (as thick as two short planks, no doubt), eventually came to the erroneous conclusion that the scene was a housebreaking. The officers seemed more concerned that the 59-year old woman had used a knife on her attackers. According to the victim (Reinetha) it was as if the police officers were trying to blame her for the incident. (What if, heaven forbid, she had used a gun!)
Mrs Reinetha Venter is the sister of Colonel Gawie Alberts, station commander of the Villieria police in Pretoria. After her husband passed away two years ago, government restrictions on firearms required that she had to place her deceased husband’s firearms in safe custody. She also placed her own firearm in safe custody, as she was abroad for the most part of last year.
Reinetha was watching TV at about 20:45 when she heard a loud thump. Her daughter, René, was asleep in her bedroom at the time but was awoken by the noise.”
The full story can be read online in Afrikaans on the pages of Volksblad.
