AN Umbilo mother is demanding answers from police after her flat was searched by officers while her daughter was home alone.
Premie Pillay, a resident at Lantern Heath, said she had approached police after the incident but was still waiting for feedback.
Pillay’s daughter, Nadia Ebrahim was at home on her own on 23 July at around 12.15pm when two men, who identified themselves as plain-clothes policemen knocked on the door and said they wanted to search the premises for a fugitive, and accused the family of harbouring.
“I asked them to show me identity but they said I mustn’t worry, and that the Flying Squad were going to come. They asked if they could come into the flat to look for the man, who they called Danny, but I said no as they were not in uniform and didn’t want to show me identity,” she said.
Ebrahim said the men had asked if she had noticed any strange behaviour in the block, but she had told them that she and her family kept to themselves.
Ebrahim said the men left and didn’t persist.
Some 10 minutes later members of the Flying Squad arrived at the door.
“I had been burning incense before they arrived. A uniformed officer whom I recognised from Umbilo SAPS banged on the door and asked me to open. He said he was there to look for this man, Danny, who we were harbouring. There were two policewomen with him and three policemen. I was scared, as I was on my own. The man I recognised asked me if I wanted to confess something, and then alluded to the fact that I had been burning incense to cover the smell of marijuana. He lifted the potplant in the lounge as if searching for it. The two policemen started opening the curtains and windows and I told them they had no right to do this, as they had no search warrant. I tried to see their name badges on their uniforms, but couldn’t,” she said.
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Pillay said she received Ebrahim’s first call around 12.20pm, and then another call around 12.40pm after the police had left the flat, and went back home to walk with Nadia to the police station.
Pillay said when she arrived at the station, she asked to see the station commander, Col Romer but he was in a meeting.
She said she called him when she got back home and made an appointment to meet him the following morning at 7.30am.
“When we met, he was confused by what I told him, and said he didn’t know who the officers could be. He made a few calls querying who was on duty, and then told me to give one of the warrant officers my statement and he would investigate and get back to me. It has been weeks and I haven’t heard anything,” she said.
Pillay said Col Romer told her police could search without a warrant, however her concern was that her daughter, a young woman, had been home alone, and it wasn’t appropriate or right to put her in such a frightening situation.
Responding to queries by Berea Mail on the progress of this investigation, Umbilo SAPS communications officer, Capt Pumzile Makaula said the case was still under investigation.
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