In Afrikaans, Jaco Slabbert (47) continually shouted: “Help, call the police, they are going to kill me!”
He was running from the Klein Olifants River to Protea Street in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, reports the Middelburg Observer.
Motorists passed him unperturbed, however.
Two bakkies then joined the “hunt”. On the corner of Asalia and Impala streets, a bakkie circled Slabbert while he tried to take cover like a cornered animal behind a small tree.
When he tried to flee again, he was dived to the ground by one of his pursuers, Brian Clarke, who then hit him in the face.
Clarke also stepped on his head a number of times.
Slabbert lay defenceless on the pavement.
Watch the video (please be warned that it shows violence):
Slabbert later said that his vehicle broke down next to the Klein Olifants River and he had sought help from Clarke and his friends, but he alleges that someone hit him in the face. The details of how this may have happened are, however, unclear.
According to Slabbert, he grabbed a hammer in self-defence, hit Clarke against the head and ran away.
Clarke’s version is that he was hit without provocation and decided to take revenge.
After the initial punches and kicks on the pavement, he hit Slabbert brutally again in the face, allegedly in full view of a traffic officer and a member of a community policing forum.
He allegedly also threatened to hit the traffic officer when the official attempted to stop him from continuing to assault Slabbert.
Members of ER24 later treated both men.
Two policemen allegedly arrived at the scene an hour and a half after the police were first called, but no arrests were made.
A friend of Clarke’s said that “he goes crazy when he is under the influence”.
He reportedly drove away from the scene in a bakkie full of household items.
Family members later picked up Slabbert and towed his broken-down car to his house.
– Caxton News Service
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