2015 05.25 pm
CNS Reporter/Tumelo Tshetlo
A
Nigerian national has opened a case of assault against Kempton Park police
after he was allegedly assaulted by police at his complex.
According to EmekeIkotu’s
wife, Sibongile Mkhize, the incident occurred on December 7 when police were
searching his friend’s flat in the same complex in Kempton Park, in Gauteng’s
East Rand, Kempton Express reported.
The incident was captured on
cell phone video and shows Ikotu pinned to the ground, with a police officer
pressing his knee into the Nigerian national’s neck while a group of other
officers surround them.
The friend apparently asked
Ikotu to come and collect his phone and flat keys before being arrested.
“This was when police accused
my husband of interfering and beat him up before arresting him too,” Mkhize
explained.
Police spokesperson Captain
Jethro Mtshali said Ikotu was arrested for allegedly interfering with police
officers while they were performing their duties, and added the police did not
promote any form of brutality.
“Her husband has already laid
assault charges against the police and the matter is under investigation,”
Mtshali said.
Ikotu was arrested for
intimidation, defeating the ends of justice and interference, and he was
released the next day.
He reportedly sustained
injuries to his cheek, shoulder and lower leg, and he later accused the police
of taking a watch and R1 500 from him during the alleged assault.
Mkhize said she did not know
why her husband’s friend was being arrested and that it did not matter because
her husband was not involved in any illegal activity and did not deserve to be
assaulted.
“My husband is a good man. I
have been married to him for eight years and we have children. South Africans
must stop stereotyping, as not all Nigerians are drug dealers,” she said.
In March last year, video
footage emerged of what appeared to be two uniformed police officers, David
Gunn and GerritJanuarie, kicking and beating a naked man believed to be a
Nigerian national in the middle of a street in Cape Town.
