Seems like an abuse-related video had to go viral to spur Tshwane police into doing their jobs.
The video, which has been trending on social media, shows a badly beaten woman calling out police for giving her abusive partner preferential treatment, which included releasing him on a warning.
“What do I do? Do I go home? So he can finish me off?” she asks in the video.
Now the video has caught the attention of Police Minister Bheki Cele, who slammed the police for how they handled the complaint.
Cele responded to the viral video during a police parade in Mpumalanga for the Safer Festive Season Inspection Tour.
“That criminal was arrested within two hours. The problem [is] why it had to wait for a trending social thing for him to be arrested,” said Cele.
Cele also acknowledged that police officers sometimes tipped off abusers when their partners reported them.
“As this one comes to the police station to report, some police at the police station they phone this guy and tell him your woman is here to report you,” said Cele.
Cele said the woman’s 46-year-old partner had since been arrested within two hours, but the video had to trend on social media for police to understand how to handle domestic abuse complaints.
Cele’s office has confirmed that the Tshwane man has been arrested on charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm (GBH) and is due to appear at the Pretoria Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
But this is only a small, temporary win for the abuse victim, who posted a three-minute video clip on social media about how police had handled her assault complaint.
In the clip, the woman’s face is clearly swollen as she describes her night trying to report a case of domestic violence.
She said she had opened a case of assault GBH against the man in 2018 in Pretoria West and nothing was done then either.
She then tried to report another incident last weekend at the Mamelodi police station, only to find that it was closed. She then drove to Silverton Police station to open a case.
The Silverton police arrested the suspect in the early hours of 12 December 2021.
The docket and suspect were then transferred to Mamelodi police station for further investigation because the incident occurred in Mamelodi.
But a detective who was assigned to the case then released the suspect with a warning to appear in court on 30 December 2021.
“Do you see my face South Africans?” begins the woman in the video. “My abuser is roaming the streets as we speak, the police did nothing to help us.”
“When we walked in here, they were grovelling to him like a king!” said the woman.
The woman said when she saw how police were handling her attacker, she knew something was wrong.
“I opened multiple cases against this person, he is making my life a living hell,” said the woman.
She then addressed Cele, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola and President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“Minister Cele, I am appealing to you, help me. Minister Lamola, look at my face. I am a woman, look at my head, the police are not helping me,” she said.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Mamelodi police station was closed, due to decontamination after a case of Covid-19 was reported, and a community service centre was operating from the back entrance of the station.
Station commander Brigadier Charles Matji apologised about the closure of the police station.
He promised there would be clear and visible signage to direct clients to the place where the community service centre was operating, in case the station had to be closed again in the future.
Matji has also instituted an internal disciplinary investigation into the detective member that released the suspect on a warning and failed to liaise with the complainant.
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