Probe after ‘woman killed in cop shop’
November 8 2013 at 11:54am
By Valeska Abreu
By Valeska Abreu
PRETORIA NEWS
Desperate pleas from
a hysterical woman fleeing from her boyfriend apparently went unheeded by the
police who told her to join the back of a complaints queue at a Rietgat police
station. Photo: Masi Losi
Pretoria - Desperate pleas from a
hysterical woman fleeing from her boyfriend apparently went unheeded by the
police who told her to join the back of a complaints queue at a Rietgat police
station.
Minutes later she was dead - allegedly
stabbed to death by the boyfriend, apparently in full view of police. The woman
had desperately tried to draw attention by claiming her mother was being killed
by a man.
Pretoria News has learnt that the
woman’s mother is not dead and that Nthateleng Hlebo, 24, had used this an a
excuse to attract police attention, in a desperate attempt to get away from her
boyfriend who was chasing her with a knife.
On Thursday witnesses spoke to Pretoria
News about the killing on Tuesday that turned the police station into a crime
scene and left police officers in disbelief.
Nokwethemba Sithole said she was in the
queue at about 7pm when Hlebo stormed into the charge office. “She was very
panicky and we could see something was wrong. She walked straight to the front
and told the officer that she had called them but got no answer so she had come
in person, because she wanted to report her mother’s murder. She said that her
boyfriend had murdered her mother. The cop didn’t even lift his head, he
continued with the affidavits and told her to wait in the queue.”
Hlebo apparently walked to the back of
the six-person queue and waited to be attended to. “She kept looking over her
shoulder and we could all see she was very nervous. I couldn’t believe that
police didn’t attend to her immediately, considering what she was saying,”
Sithole said.
According to Sithole, about 15 minutes
later a man thought to be Hlebo’s boyfriend walked into the station where a
scuffle between the two broke out.
“He was pulling her, trying to get her
away from the station. He said he wanted to talk to her but she kept saying no.
There was a struggle between them and police did nothing. All of a sudden he
pulled out a knife and stabbed her in the chest. He stabbed her again and then
we all ran outside. He stabbed her a few more times and then she fell to the
floor. Only then did police get up and intervene.
“He then ran into the bus rank, and
police went after him shouting to the public to catch him. Some people caught
him on the other side of the shopping centre. Police then asked us to leave the
premises because it was a crime scene.”
Police said on Thursday they were aware
of the incident, but offered a different version of events. Spokesman Brigadier
Neville Malila said a woman was allegedly stabbed at the taxi rank and ran to
the police station where she died.
A hawker who runs a spaza shop at the
taxi rank next to the station, said he saw Hlebo going inside. According to
him, she was not bleeding nor injured. “She came from the other side of the
rank. She was alone and looked scared, but she definitely wasn’t bleeding. I
don’t know what happened inside the station and I didn’t see the guy go inside.
I heard the screams and commotion and then saw him running to the bus rank,”
said the hawker.
Police said they would investigate the
matter and a suspect would appear in court soon.
Pretoria News
