TONGA – Police have not yet identified any suspects following the mob assault on well-known Mbombela advocate Mr Nico du Plessis in January this year.
Du Plessis was mauled by a group of civilians following his representation of two murder accused in the Tonga Magistrate’s Court.
On January 19 Du Plessis travelled from Mbombela to Tonga to represent two men accused of kidnapping and killing a toddler.
When he walked out of the court building, a group of community members tackled him and mauled him to the ground. He was assaulted and dragged around by his tie.
Police intervened and Du Plessis was taken to a place of safety. He opened a case of assault at the local police station.
The assault sent shock waves through the country – read more here.
Video footage of the incident was provided to Lowvelder and uploaded to the paper’s website. It was referred to on various national news networks. The safety of legal representatives in our country became a hot topic of discussion.
The case has since been transferred to the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court. Whenever it was on the court roll, a mob would gather in front of the court building, threatening to attack Du Plessis.
Read: “If he comes out here, he would not survive.” – Protester
Although the incident of January 19 was taken seriously by South Africans in general, Du Plessis is now questioning whether the SAPS have taken his case of assault seriously at all.
“I laid a charge following the incident and submitted follow-up queries with a Col Pule, without success,” he told Lowvelder.
The paper submitted a media query on the case’s progress to provincial spokesman Maj Brenda Kgafela.
She said it was still under investigation and that no arrests had been made.
Also read: Tonga case causes to protests
