Afrikaans Journos battered : ‘The
four cops told me they pulled me over because I was white,’
23 August
2011
Afrikaans journo Yolanda Barnard of Sondag: ‘The
four cops told me they pulled me over because I was white,’ she said. After
she was punched in the face by a policewoman, the woman and a male cop carried
her by her arms and legs to their minivan while the other two laughed at her
humiliation… And Afrikaans news-photographer Craig Nieuwenhuizen, left, was
bashed, kicked and beaten by security guards at the Unisa campus while
investigating a story on Tuesday.
Jacques Steenkamp of
Beeld newspaper writes that Afrikaans journalist Yolanda Barnard, 32,
entertainment-reporter for Sondag tabloid, suffered a cracked nose-bone when
she was battered in the face by a black policewoman on Sunday-afternoon Aug 22
2011. She has lodged charges at Midrand police station. Miss Barnard had just left the
‘Liedjieboer-Kroeg’, an Afrikaans entertainment venue at Olifantsfontein Road
in Midrand, on Sunday at 4:15pm. She had spent the afternoon with entertainers
Kurt Darren, DJ Ossewa and others to celebrate singer Pieter Smith’s birthday.
“I had a few drinks but also had a lot to eat,’ she said. “I drove myself
because I was not drunk. About a block away from the venue I was pulled over by
four black police members. I asked them why they pulled me over specifically,
and they said ‘because you are white,’ she said.
The four cops, three men and
a woman, ordered her to follow them and the four cops climbed back into their
minibus. She followed them in her car because she believed they would just go
to the nearest police station. However instead they stopped in a quiet dead-end
street, demanded her driver’s license and her keys.
“I wanted to know again
why they pulled me over and the woman said ‘because you are drunk.’ I asked
them to do a breathaliser test right there and then — because I know I was not
drunk. The black female cop then battered me in the face. ‘
Ms Barnard was then
grabbed by her arms and legs by the police woman and a male cop, and they
carried her to the minibus. The other two black male cops stood there and
laughed at her humiliation.
“I then told them that I
was a journalist, and they suddenly dropped me right there on the tarmac. I
jumped up and locked myself into my car.” An hour later, after posting at her
car all that time, the four cops apparently decided they’d had enough and they
all got back into the minivan. Ms Barnard then climbed out and pleaded with
them to give her back her driver’s license and keys. They threw her belongings
on the ground from the bus.
She never was charged
with anything. “I am now terrified of the police. How can anyone trust them
after such an incident?” she said. She was examined by a doctor who confirmed
her suspicion that a bone may have been cracked in her nose. Editor of Sondag
newspaper Peet Bothma said the newspaper takes a very strong stand against
police cruelty and assaults, just as any other newspaper should also do.
“We support Yolanda
completely in lodging her criminal charges, as well as the civil claim she will
be lodging,’ he said. SAPS captain Agnes Huma confirmed that the journalist
lodged formal charges of assault and intimidation against the specific police
members involved.
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