Man in
wheelchair after cop assault
2011-05-25 09:29
Hendrik Grobler
recounts how he was beaten by police, despite his pleas that he was in a back
brace following surgery. (Theana Breugem, Beeld)
Hilda
Fourie, Beeld
Pretoria
- A man who says he was assaulted by police now has to use a wheelchair and
fears he may have to live like this for the rest of his life.
Hendrik
Grobler, 35, was still recovering from a back operation when a policeman
stepped on his back at a fuel station in Gezina in Pretoria Moot on April 21.
Beeld reported on the incident on May 2.
The
policeman and his colleagues were caught on CCTV cameras as they assaulted
Grobler and his friend, Theuns Potgieter, 33 - apparently because Potgieter was
carrying his firearm but not his firearm licence.
Back
brace
Grobler
was wearing a back brace at the time of the assault, following a back operation
ten weeks previously.
"I
told the policeman twice that I couldn’t get down on the ground because I had
had a back operation. I showed him the back brace,” Grobler said on Tuesday.
"The
policeman pointed his firearm at me and said he would shoot me if I didn’t go
down on the ground.
"He
hit me, stepped on me and pushed me to the ground.
"Another
policeman came and stepped on me. A third policeman came to me and turned me
over. Then it was over. The pain started and has never stopped since then.”
Grobler
lay there for 45 minutes before someone helped him up.
Unable
to use right leg
Since
the incident, his right leg has become weaker and he is unable to walk on it.
"The
doctor said nerves and soft tissue were hurt. He said it was something that
could take ten days to 20 years to recover.
"Since
then I’ve been in the wheelchair. My right leg won’t move. It has no strength.
"If
I try to put pressure on it, the pain is unbearable.”
Grobler
has been unable to keep up his work as boilermaker.
His
wife, Estie, 33, who is seven months pregnant, has to help him shower, after
which he has to lie down in bed again because the pain is too much when he
moves. Due to the wheelchair he is unable to move around in his house.
"I
lost everything because of my back. Now I have lost the use of my legs as well,
due to the police.”
Independent
Complaints Directorate (ICD) spokesperson Moses Dlamini said the ICD had not
yet investigated the matter because they would only take over the investigation
from the police on Wednesday.
Beeld
