Three alleged nyaope addicts got more than they bargained for when community members assaulted them and burnt one of the men’s household items.
Apparently, the men were also found in possession of other people’s identity documents.
Alex Police Station Captain Stephen Malatji said the three were awaiting a court appearance. The incident on 10 January occurred after one of the men had sneaked into a woman’s home while she was outside hanging laundry. When she returned to the house to collect pegs, she found her iPad and cell phone worth about R8 500 missing. She asked her children what had happened and they identified the thief. “He was approached by community members and confessed to having taken the items he had already sold for money to buy nyaope,” said Malatji.
“The [community] members took him to his home where they found many IDs which they took as evidence after he confessed to selling them with his friends to fraudsters and pawnshops.
The crowd took him to his friend’s home where they took out his bed and other items and burnt them. They took the two to a third friend’s home where all three were assaulted. They were rescued by the police who were called by his father who also alerted the officers that there was a warrant of arrest for his son for housebreaking and theft.
Malatji urged parents not to protect children involved in crime. “Doing so knowingly is an offence and is abetting a crime.”
He suggested that the moral issue of crime be discussed in families, churches, stokvels and schools. “It will help to foster harmony and respect among families, neighbours, the community and act as a deterrent to those who have criminal tendencies.”
