Theddeus Duru (52) has not been seen since Friday, January 17, after two Flying Squad members from the Brixton police allegedly went to his house, beat him up, suffocated him, loaded him into their car and left.
The incident occurred at around 10am, on a property situated at the intersection of Turvey Street and Elston Avenue.
An eye-witness known only as Dudu related the shocking incident to the City Times.
She said two officers in uniform arrived in a VW Golf GTI and told Theddeus to open the gate.
“After opening the gate, they searched him and the house, but could not find anything,” she added.
The officers apparently took his phone, which was off at the time, switched it on and asked him for a pin number.
“They then found a message talking about ‘coke’ and started beating him up and asking him where the drugs were,” said Dudu.
She claims the beating took place in the house, and further alleges that the officers then handcuffed Theddeus and put a plastic bag over his head to suffocate him.
Afterwards, one of the officers apparently went outside and reversed the car into the property.
“Officers then loaded him in the trunk of their vehicle and left,” alleged Dudu.
Theddeus’s brother, Michael, believes the officers killed his brother and disposed of his body.
“I think he was already dead when they left the house with him,” he said.
He went to the Benoni Police Station on Friday to open a case of murder, but the officers advised him to open a kidnapping case, as there was no dead body to prove the murder.
Michael believes the officers should be arrested as there are two witnesses to the incident.
It is thought there might be CCTV video footage from neighbouring properties, which could have captured the incident.
Benoni police spokesperson Lieut Nomsa Sekele said the investigating officer is still waiting for the footage, in order to view it.
She said the officers in question, who were roped in to assist with the drug problem, confirmed that they did go to the property, but that they denied ever assaulting anyone or leaving the property with anyone.
“They said they only searched the property and left after finding nothing,” said Sekele.
Police are investigating.
On Monday, a group of Nigerian men marched to the Benoni police to deliver a memorandum.
In it, they sought to bring the station commander’s attention to the “extreme measures” meted out against Nigerians by the police.
“Most of us are being tortured with wires, plastic bags over our heads and tear gas; we are also beaten with guns and other weapons,” said march leader Kingsley Onyeri.
He added that the “brutal beating of our brother and the possible killing” shows that the situation has got out of hand.
“Whenever the police see a Nigerian here in Benoni, they either see a criminal or a moneybag,” he said.
“We plead with you to inform your people that they are supposed to protect and not kill.”
According to Onyeri they will be visiting hospitals and government mortuaries in search of Theddeus.
Acting commander of the Benoni Police Station Col Thomas Maupa confirmed receiving the memorandum and promised feedback on Wednesday (January 22).
If the incident is true, then it will not be the first time a foreign national has died at the hands of the police in the Benoni area.
Last year, a Daveyton taxi driver and Mozambican national, Emido Macia, was handcuffed to a police van and dragged several metres before being thrown into the holding cells, where he later died.
The nine Daveyton officers implicated in this incident are expected to go on trial for murder this year, in the Delmas High Court.
