Probe after cop assault on woman
April 12 2013 at 01:30pm
By Murray Williams
YOUTUBE
The CCTV footage was
given to the television station eNCA by a local security manager.
Cape Town - An off-duty policeman is
being investigated for assaulting a woman at a petrol station and
uniformed, on-duty colleagues are accused of not doing enough to restrain him.
The charges come after television
station eNCA was sent CCTV footage from a petrol station in Smithfield in the
Free State last Friday.
The footage shows a man arriving at the
pumps in a white BMW, walking to a bakkie, and returning to his car. A woman
follows him and hands him cash. As she walks away, he follows her and punches
her in the back of the head.
She falls to the ground. At this point,
two policeman also parked at the petrol station rush over. Over the next two
minutes, the man repeatedly kicks in the woman’s direction, possibly connecting
with her at least once.
He is constantly restrained by the two
policemen, but breaks free at least once.
After falling to the ground a second
time, the woman gets up and drives off. The two policemen, in turn, frogmarch
the man away from her direction, and he returns to his car.
The CCTV footage was given to the
station by a local security manager.
In its report on the matter, the TV
station stated that the attacker is a policeman, and suggests that his attack
on the woman happened “in full view of his two colleagues”.
eNCA alleged that the pair “do not
restrain him”, although the footage shows the policemen trying to hold him
back.
eNCA described the drama as another
case of “police brutality”.
It subsequently reported that the
footage had been seen by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, and
quoted spokesman Moses Dlamini saying two investigators had been put on the
case – in connection with both the off-duty policeman and the on-duty
colleagues.
Dlamini could not be reached for
further comment today as he was in court on another matter.
Police told eNCA they were also
investigating the incident.
The claim that the assault was another
case of “police brutality” comes against widespread concern that police
violence is on the increase.
Sapa reports that the case against nine
policemen accused of killing taxi driver Mido Macia was postponed in the Benoni
Magistrate’s Court today.
The case was postponed to May 24 for
further investigation.
The nine have all been denied bail.
Macia was filmed being tied to the back
of a police van and dragged along a street in Daveyton on February 26. He was
found dead in the local police station’s holding cells several hours later.
The accused are Thamsanqa Ncema, 35,
Linda Sololo, 56, Meshack Malele, 45, Motome Walter Ramatlou, 37, Percy Mnisi,
26, Bongumusa Mdluli, 25, Sipho Ngobeni, 30, Lungisa Ewababa, 31, and Bongani
Kolisi, 27.
Cape Argus
