A Durban mother’s worst nightmare was realised on Sunday afternoon when she walked out of a private party to discover her son being dragged off by policemen at Blue Lagoon.
“It’s all because he was taking pictures of the policemen on his cellphone. I wasn’t even aware of what was happening,” a teary-eyed Neetha Inderlall told the Berea Mail.
She said she was with family celebrating her cousin and his daughter’s birthday at the Green Hub when her brother noticed a commotion going on outside and went to see what was happening.
“I didn’t want him to go out there and get involved. Before I knew it, he was back and said they were taking my son, Nikhiel and putting him in the car,” said the distraught mother.
“I was shocked and went to ask what was happening. I saw two men taking him. I told them he was my son and only 13 years old. They pushed him into the car.
“The men were in plain clothes, so I didn’t even know they were police. I heard them scream at my son, and one threatened to kill him, while my son was trying to explain to me what had happened. I pleaded for them to take me with him but was told I must find my own transport and follow them to Durban Central police station.”
After getting a lift to the police station, the single mother became frantic when she couldn’t find her child. “I rushed to the reception but they didn’t know what I was talking about.
The officers found out that 13-year-old Nikhiel had been taken to a satellite station at the beachfront. When Neetha arrived, she was asked to wait outside.
“I was so scared because it was more than half an hour since we left Blue Lagoon but then, they finally let him go.
The woman said her son was traumatised, adding one of the officers smelt of alcohol and swore her son throughout the ride to the station. “They told him to unlock the phone, watched the videos and deleted the videos.We went back to the station to lay a charge against the policemen for taking a minor without his mother’s permission and for threatening him,” she said.
A witness who wished to remain anonymous, told Berea Mail there was no parking when she got to Blue Lagoon on Sunday morning.
“We flagged down a policeman and asked where we could park at about 11am and he said we could park on the pavement.
Later in the afternoon the problem broke out. “There were so many cars parked on the pavement, and police were fining people at only one spot.
“My husband moved our car just as we saw them because we could see things were going to turn nasty'” she said.
The women also alleged that police smelt of alcohol and that they had driven a car with an expired licence, which she had a photograph of.
The woman said police took out pepper spray after an argument ensued. “A group of people were questioning why a van was being towed when the police themselves arrived in a vehicle with an expired license disc.
“When the argument broke out, they sprayed the pepper spray on everyone and people young and old took cover.
“I took my little girls and ran away because I could see things were turning nasty. Ten other cars came as back up for the police within minutes,” she explained.
The whole incident happened because a family was loading their gazebo and picnic stuff on the pavement, the woman said. “They were off loading and then got parked in and the police came within minutes. It was so unnecessary.”
Metro Police spokesman, Superintendent Eugene Msomi was unable to comment on the incident at the time of going to press.
