One dead and one injured after alleged insult at Carolina Spar
Three Carolina SPAR employees face charges of kidnapping, assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm and murder.
CAROLINA – This followed the alleged beating of Thulani and Thabiso Sibanyoni on August 14. William Viljoen (32), Hannes Terblanche (29) and Obi Nortjé are alleged to have assaulted Thulani and Thabani after the latter allegedly insulted a Carolina SPAR employee.
Viljoen and Terblanche are senior staff members at the store and Nortjé is an external security officer. According to the Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Brig Leonard Hlathi, the trio stopped the two victims and forced them into their vehicle.
“It is alleged that the two were forced by the suspects into their vehicle and were taken to a storeroom, where they were severely assaulted with an iron pipe as a form of punishment for allegedly insulting a colleague,” said Hlathi.
Thulani and Thabani were taken to hospital for treatment where the former succumbed to the injuries sustained during the alleged attack.
Viljoen, Terblanche and Nortjé were arrested last Friday and appeared in the Carolina Magistrate’s Court on Monday. All three abandoned their bail applications with the matter postponed to September 16 for further investigation.
The incident created an uproar within the community, with residents demanding to know why Carolina SPAR continued trading over the weekend.
Community leader, Nomonde Nkosi, demonstrated at the store on Saturday in protest. “A man was brutally beaten and murdered by its employees and a security guard and SPAR continued to trade. I was approached by the police who told me that SPAR had complained about the protest, but other residents joined in and soon the store closed its doors. They remained closed on Saturday and Sunday,” Nkosi said.
She revealed that a meeting was held at the Carolina Police Station between a delegation from the Silobela community and Carolina SPAR management.
The outcomes of the meeting were that the management personnel implicated in the attack would be suspended until the case was finalised in court, that interim management would be appointed by September 12, that the contract with the security company is terminated, that proposals would be accepted from the local community for the services of another security company, that the SPAR management would invest in anti-drug programmes in the community and that the availability of recorded footage is investigated by a company representative.
In the wake of the incident, Martin Webber, the managing director of SPAR Lowveld said in a statement, “SPAR is aware of an alleged assault incident at the independently owned Carolina Spar branch on August 14 and we are continuing to assist the police in their ongoing investigation in every way we can.
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by reports that one of the alleged victims died and we will continue to assist the police, while also assisting the family in this sad and difficult time.”
The statement continued to say that Intrax Investments, which are the owners of SPAR Carolina, has suspended two senior staff members after their arrest and court appearance.
It concluded: “We cannot comment further until further details are made available, except to say SPAR does not condone breaches of the law under any circumstances and will assist the police in any way it can to ensure justice prevails and that anyone found to have broken the law suffers the full consequences of their actions”.
