The gravity of a recorded scenario has the power to highlight injustice, evoke wild emotions or twist the truth.
A video taken at Roodepoort Police Station has been spread on social media and at first glance, seething outrage would be the justifiable response. Taken at roughly 4am on the morning of 22 April, the poorly lit video shows what the cinematographer claims is four police officers sleeping in the community service centre of the station. The irate member of the public then claims he was there to report a woman being raped a short distance away, and chastises the officer for sleeping instead of helping ‘a sister in need’.
See video here:
The topic of gender-based violence is one that gets the blood boiling and should these claims be factual, would warrant the strongest of condemnation and consequence. That said, the man who took the video has since backtracked, saying he did not witness any rape incident, but instead heard a woman crying out for help. The Record was made aware of the video on 25 April and the incident described was confirmed as a domestic dispute.
The disgruntled resident, who is upset at the current state of the suburb surrounding Roodepoort Police Station, said he did not intend to share the video but a family member had gotten hold of it and posted it to a community group. The video was then free to spread on social media where it was later seen on a popular Chinese-owned platform. The hasty smartphone user has since asked everyone to delete the video.
The matter of sleeping police officers is still of concern, and official police comment will be published when it is forthcoming. Domestic violence is an ongoing scourge but any exaggeration or salacious false claims detract from the true horror suffered by the real victims of heinous crimes.
