Police docket incomplete 8 months on
May 27 2013 at 04:53pm
By Daneel Knoetze
By Daneel Knoetze
.
.
Cape Town - It has been eight months
since the assault that left 19-year-old Jethro van Schalkwyk in a coma, yet his
attackers remain at large because of an incomplete case docket.
Last September, Van Schalkwyk was
assaulted by two men outside a pub in Table View. He hit his head on the
concrete and went into a coma after being punched.
In Groote Schuur Hospital, he was kept
alive by life support for 10 days before his family agreed that the machines be
switched off.
He died on September 18.
Since then, Brenda Prout-Jones - Van
Schalkwyk's mother - has worked tirelessly to piece together the circumstances
of the assault.
Prout-Jones says two suspects have been
identified from CCTV footage of the fight.
Their identities have been corroborated
by witnesses.
One of the alleged suspects was a
on-duty bouncer, the other a former bouncer on the nightclub scene at Marine
Circle in Table View.
Despite this, Prout-Jones has accused
Table View police of having moved at an “unacceptably” slow pace in terms of
taking statements and gathering evidence to build a case against the suspects.
“For me it has been unbelievably
difficult and frustrating. I have tried to assist the police by sharing the
information that my investigation has uncovered with them, in return they have
not responded to my e-mails, phone calls and requests to get an update on their
investigation,” she said.
“I would also like an explanation as to
why it has taken so long to complete the docket.”
On Friday, Prout-Jones said the docket
had been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority, but had to be
redirected because a report from the forensic pathologist who established that
Van Schalkwyk’s cause of death was missing.
The Cape Argus queried police about the
investigation, but only received the following reply from spokesman
Lieutenant-Colonel Andrè Traut: “Kindly be advised that there are no new
developments to report at this stage. The case is still under investigation.”
Meanwhile, local media have reported on
two other major assaults to have take place at nightclubs near Marine Circle.
* Earlier this month, Travis Baard, 20,
from Kenilworth was assaulted by six bouncers. The bouncers allegedly used a
spade, a brick and a Taser as weapons during the brawl.
Baard is now in the process of taking
legal action.
* In February, brothers Xander, 28, and
Raynard Loggenberg, 19, were attacked by five men after an altercation with a
bouncer.
During the assault the bouncer, the
only one of the attackers who seemed to have been officially working as
security, hit Xander with a baton - leaving him with a gash in his forehead
that required five stitches and a gash on his scalp that required six clamps.
daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus
