South Africa
FOUR Mdantsane residents have accused police of beating them up in an attack last weekend that put one of them in hospital with serious injuries. And the NU1 officers have responded by opening a case of assault against their accusers.
Yesterday Nomava Nonto, Thamsanqa Faku and Bulelani Makeleni were nursing bruises they claimed to have got while being held in the police cells.
One victim , Simbonile Ntongwane, 27, was taken to Cecilia Makiwane Hospital after a fire extinguisher was allegedly slammed into his head by the officers at the station.
Yesterday he was transferred to Frere Hospital to receive stitches to his gums and head.
His mother, Nolakhe Ntongwane, said she couldn’t hold back her tears when she saw him.
“They nearly killed my son,” she said. “He can’t eat; he is in pain; he just can’t do anything.
“He told me that the police said they will kill him to stop the case.”
The other three said they were terrified of the officers who, they claimed, bragged they would dispose of the dockets if any case was opened against them.
The trouble began on Friday when the policemen tried to arrest a group of people playing dice on the street.
The gamblers ran away and at that point Faku, who is Nonto’s brother, was stopped by the officers and questioned as he apparently passed by.
Nonto alleged that the police grabbed Faku and when she stopped them, they pulled out a gun and hit her with it.
In an ensuing melee, the two police officers allegedly pulled out another firearm and arrested Ntongwane and Makeleni, who were on the scene.
Nonto said they were then forced into the back of the police vehicle at gun point and taken to the cells, where the assaults allegedly continued.
Children at the scene captured footage of the incident but none of the cellphone clips showed any assaults taking place, although one officer can be seen with a firearm.
Mdantsane police spokesperson Leon Fortune said he could confirm that an officer was assaulted last week.
“We don’t know about the alleged assault in the holding cells,” said Fortune.
“Anyone who was assaulted must come to the police station to open up a case.”
The three making the allegations against the police appeared in the Mdantsane Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of assault and are scheduled to appear again on November 6.
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