‘Cop’ beat
up son of ex-envoy
October 13 2012 at 09:49am
By Kashiefa Ajam
By Kashiefa Ajam
Supplied
Donald Gibson is the
son of veteran South African politician Douglas Gibson.
Johannesburg - A shocking assault by a
man who got out of a police vehicle, left the son of SA’s former ambassador to
Thailand in a Joburg intensive care unit, with a fractured skull and
“contusions on his brain”.
Donald Gibson, son of Douglas Gibson
who was the DA’s chief whip prior to becoming an ambassador, was beaten and
knocked out last Saturday when what was to have been a fun day with colleagues
at the rugby match between the Springboks and the All Blacks at the FNB stadium
in Soweto, turned ugly.
Douglas Gibson said his son, who is an
environmental scientist, had been punched below the ear after finding himself
among a group who joked and laughed on seeing the door of a police van fall off
in the parking lot.
“While [they were] in the car park, a
police van pulled up. Several men climbed out. Then the door of the van just
fell off and there was a roar of laughter from bystanders. People were laughing
and taking pictures as they tried to put the door back on. It was all
good-natured,” the injured man’s father said.
“Then one man [who got out of the
police van] pointed at Donald and said to him ‘I know where you live’. Donald
replied that he wasn’t going to disseminate the pictures. He said he wouldn’t
put them on Facebook or Twitter.”
But the man responded by punching him
and knocking him out. He went on to threaten another member of the group.
“(Donald) fell on the back of his head.
People around him thought that he was dying. He was gurgling and gargling in
pain.”
The men from the police van then got
into a taxi and left.
Donald was rushed to a Joburg hospital,
where he has been in ICU ever since.
“He has a fractured skull and
contusions on his brain. We are very grateful… [the injuries were not a lot
worse]. But we have been assured that he will be fine,” Gibson said.
The assault was reported to the
Parkview police station, and station commander Colonel Nanda Moodley took a
witness statement himself.
Moodley told Weekend Argus sister title
the Saturday Star yesterday: “I got a call from Mr Gibson who told me what had
happened to his son. He said his son was incapacitated. We took a statement
from a witness.”
But the case had to be transferred to
the Booysens police station, because the FNB Stadium fell under that
jurisdiction.
“There has been a slight delay, an
administrative delay, with getting the docket there. We have only managed to
take it there today (Friday). But I have called the station commander there and
told him that this case needs to take priority,” Moodley said.
He denied the men in the police vehicle
had been policemen.
“The police officers were driving a
Toyota Quantum. They gave these three guys a lift. When they got out of the
kombi, they yanked the door so hard that it came off the rails. Then they tried
to put it back.”
Moodley was adamant that the man who
attacked Gibson was not a policeman. But it was unclear why the police at the
scene at the time had not made an arrest there and then.
Donald is a partner and principal
environmental scientist at SRK Consulting, an international consulting practice
that provides advice to clients, mainly from the earth- and water-resource
industries.
He has been involved in environmental
management and has published several research documents on environmental
issues.
Last night Douglas Gibson said his son
was awake, and now able to speak, but that his recovery would be slow.
“It is going to be a very slow process
for us. It has been hard for everyone. His wife, Tarryn, is a sensible and
intelligent woman. She has taken it like a champ. But it has been hard,
exhausting.”
And he was adamant he would insist on a
“thorough police investigation”.
“We have several witnesses and pictures
which were taken of the incident. I am determined to see that this kind of
crime will not go unpunished.”
Weekend Argus
