Rage directed at police after suspect is freed
March 6 2015 at 08:50am
OUT OF CONTROL:
Residents of Tafelsig in Mitchells Plain took to the streets after police
intervened when they tried to force a confession out of a man whose mother was
murdered. Photo: Leon Knipe
Francesca Villette
RESIDENTS of Tafelsig in Mitchells Plain turned on the police in a
violent protest after charges against a man accused of killing his mother,
61-year-old mother Gafsa Roberts, and dumping her body in a rubbish bin, were
withdrawn.
Shakur Roberts, 21, was arrested on Monday after a neighbour made the
gruesome discovery.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said charges
against Roberts were provisionally withdrawn on Wednesday pending further
investigation, but could be reinstated later.
About 50 angry residents, who wanted him to admit he had killed his
mother, went to his house.
He was not home at the time, but someone saw him later, Tafelsig
resident Martin Knowles said yesterday.
“We chased him. When we caught him, we brought him to the house and tried
to make him confess to the murder,” Knowles said.
The crowd swelled to about 500 and when police arrived to escort
Roberts, residents hurled stones at the police.
Police spokesman FC van Wyk said police vehicles were damaged and cases
of malicious damage to property and public violence were opened.
Residents lined Winterhoek Street with torched tyres and fuelled the
blaze with rubble. They petrol-bombed police, who retaliated with water canons,
rubber bullets and stun grenades. The protest lasted until about 11pm.
The house where Roberts and his mother lived stood empty yesterday.
Abie Isaacs, Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum chairman, said it
was unfair that the community had turned on police, who were merely doing their
duty.
“We need this community, and South Africa as a whole to respect police
and the judiciary. The anger vented at police is uncalled for,” Isaacs said.
“All police can do is arrest someone. It is up to the courts to
prosecute people. People know the saying ‘innocent until proven guilty’.
“Taking the law into your own hands makes you a criminal too.”
francesca.villette@inl.co.za
