A man (30) allegedly was assaulted while he and his family were dining at a well-known franchise restaurant in Westgate Shopping Centre on Saturday evening 19 April.
After being hit by a waiter in the restaurant, Breda van Schoor claims also to have been assaulted and stabbed by the waiter and a gang of people in the shopping centre parking area just after 8pm. Avené van Schoor alleges that other waiters, some from a restaurant opposite the one where the Van Schoor family dined, as well as car guards formed part of the gang that assaulted her husband. This followed his confronting the restaurant’s child minder.
“Our son (2) was playing in the [name withheld until comment is obtained] play area and the woman who was supposed to supervise the children was not present.
“I went to look for her in the restaurant where I found her talking to one of the waiters. I confronted her.
“She said she would be back with the children soon and when my husband later noticed that she still was not on her post, he also went to confront her.
“I don’t know what was said but if I understood my husband’s account correctly, a waiter then hit him from behind and rushed out of the restaurant.”
To her the evening was chaotic and she does not know how it escalated, but her husband then allegedly was assaulted outside the shopping centre.
“A gang of people, including the waiter, assaulted him – they beat him up, hit him with a pipe and stabbed him.”
She says that when her husband called out that the gang was robbing him of his possessions, a man rushed to his rescue.
“When he finally was let go of, his wallet and cellphone were gone.”
Van Schoor was treated for the stab wounds to his hands at Life Flora Clinic.
His father-in-law later said to the record, “Whatever the situation was, it didn’t warrant the attack on my son-in-law”. He said that the family would open a case of attempted murder against the waiter.
“If you go to the station you will go to jail”
Avené van Schoor says that the police members who attended the assault scene were “devastatingly unprofessional”. She told the record that they were not wearing their name badges and refused to give their names to the couple. They also allegedly did not take statements but simply handed over some forms for her husband to fill in.
“He told them that they had to do their paperwork themselves, and after some discussion asked whether he could be escorted to the police station where he would open a case.
“They told him that if he were to go to the station, he would go to jail.”
The couple was asked for their contact details and told that they would be contacted if the police had any further information. To date, a case had not been opened and the couple had not heard from the police. She says that a police captain whom they had contacted later obtained CCTV footage of the incident from Westgate Shopping Centre’s central management. The couple were denied access to the footage without a case number, but according to her, the restaurant manager was granted access to it.
“He later admitted to the captain that he was trying to delete the footage.”
