Afrikaner dad Charlie
Niemann 26 arrested with 3yo daughter Cherise: police threatened to throw her
in cell if she didn't stop crying
09:52 Feb 3 2013 Hazeyview, Lowveld
Afrikaner
Charlie Niemann 26 arrested with three-year-old daughter Cherise in SAPS cell
while buying milk -- 2013-02-03 In yet another of the
many incidents in which Afrikaners are suffering false arrests with trumped up
driving charges, 26-year-old Afrikaner dad - while admitting he'd had two beers
a few hours earlier - had gone to the shops to buy milk with his little 3-year-old
girl Cherise when he was pulled over by cops in Hazyview. The barefoot Cherise
was in his car with him, wearing only her pyjamas. writes Vania van der Heever
of Rappoort weekly.
He was arrested for 'drunk driving' but denied being drunk when he drove to the cafe. Police officers grabbed him and the girl and took the toddler to the police station with him - and threw them in a police cell together. It's illegal in South Africa to put a small child in a police cell. They refused to take the child home nor let the dad make a phone call to have her fetched. “It was terrible. My child was hysterical. The officials were inhuman. They even refused to give her water. When we got there and Cherise was crying, one threatened to throw her in a police cell if I couldn’t get her to calm down.”His wife, Stephanie, 30, pregnant with the couple’s second child, said she expected the worst when the two didn’t come back from the café.
We have taken Cherise to a counsellor and she is getting better. But she is scared of police officers. Whenever she sees a police car, she looks for her dad and starts crying hysterically.” Niemann has laid a charge against the police with the independent complaints directorate.
A police spokesperson said it was illegal to lock up a child in a police cell.
It's not known what has become of the 'drunk driving charge' nor whether Mr Niemann was even tested.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Girl-3-locked-in-police-cell-20130203
