Angry mob teach alleged thieves a harsh lesson

The pair became victims of mob justice, in two separate instances of violence, when a furious crowd of around 100 Angelo informal settlement residents took the law into their own hands, on March 1 and 2.

Residents claimed that both men had allegedly been terrorising residents of Angelo, and Ramaphosa, for years.

The first victim was caught on Sunday morning, two days after he and his accomplice allegedly broke into a woman’s shack and stole her belongings.

The items included a bag full of expensive clothes, pots and groceries.

According to residents, the suspect was whipped with sjamboks, slapped and kicked before he fell to the ground.

It is believed residents, including elderly women and children, stood by and watched as the young man was savagely beaten.

The alleged thief, who suffered wounds to his abdomen, head, legs, arms and back, was rescued just in time from the mob by a group of men.

The victim of the mob attack allegedly admitted to stealing from the woman’s shack, and the loot was later recovered after he identified the buyers of the stolen goods.

Angry community members caught the second suspect on Monday, March 2.

He was severely beaten with sticks, stones and fists, before he was also admitted to hospital.

Believed to be in their early 30s, the thugs have been accused of stealing in order to feed their addiction to nyaope.

According to a community leader, the man assaulted on Sunday used to stay in Tsakane with his family, but he escaped after he was almost killed by a mob for alleged criminal behaviour.

Speaking to Angelo residents, the Advertiser learned that most of the people in the crowd on Sunday support kangaroo justice, because they are tired of all the break-ins and robberies.

Others complained that the criminal justice system was failing the community.

The suspects are expected to survive their injuries.

According to Lieut Kwenzakwakhe Ngobese, no case relating to vigilantism in Angelo was reported at the Boksburg SAPS.