Douglasdale officer accused of theft and harassment
Marnus Botha is demanding for the return of his cellphone that was allegedly stolen by a police officer during an altercation.
Resident Marnus Botha has accused a police officer from Douglasdale Police Station who was off duty at the time, of theft and harassment.
He alleged that the officer’s wife had taken his cellphone during an altercation with the policeman. Botha said he was attempting to record the officer’s outrageous behaviour.
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The incident allegedly occurred on June 6 at the Waterford Centre on Witkoppen Road when Botha was on his way to do some shopping.
“He started following me right after I passed him while I was en route to do some shopping. He then followed me to my destination to the point where I decided to ask him why he was following me, and then he got out and started shoving and pushing and hitting me in the chest,” Botha claimed.
“I started recording him and his wife grabbed the phone out of my hands, put it in her pocket, and refused to give it back. I then drove to the police station where he continued to harass me.
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“I went to the Douglasdale Police Station to report this and this off-duty officer followed me and he continued to harass me, and then told everyone I was being racist. He said that everything I said at the police station was racist and even my reporting of his behavior was also racist. I was very intimidated by the officers taking his side and left the police station.
“He was short maybe 160-170cm, slightly overweight, with short/buzzcut hair. His wife was very short (140-150cm), small build with a head covering. They live in an estate in Jukskei Park.”
According to Botha, the officer was driving a sky-blue SUV when he identified himself as a police officer from Douglasdale.
Botha said he still didn’t know what he had done to have been harassed and assaulted like that.
When reached for comment Captain Mpho Tshetlhane directed our query to Captain Tsietsi Phora from the district office. No response was received at the time of going to print.
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*In a previous version of this article, a photo of Douglasdale Police Station commander Veeshani Arikum had been used erroneously as the featured image. This publication apologises for the error.
