Stubborn problems may require a tougher solution, but emotion blurs the line of responsibility.
A father of an adult man is accusing members affiliated to the community policing forum (CPF) of heavy-handed tactics and victimisation. Bobby Hunsley has been a resident in Manuel Street for roughly 18 months and believes his family has been singled out for special attention. Citing personal bad blood, Bobby believes an orchestrated campaign was launched against his son, accusations a senior CPF member involved is yet to refute despite multiple opportunities to do so.
Bobby’s 30-year-old son Duwayne Hunsley was arrested in late March in connection with an alleged incident of theft. At the time of the arrest, Duwayne was out on parole after having served four years of an eight-year sentence for an aggravated-robbery conviction. While not defending his son’s earlier conviction, Bobby is disputing the role and methodology of the community security cluster in the area.
A member of the Davidsonville CPF confirmed telephonically in mid-April that his members assisted in the arrest of Duwayne in the early hours of the morning for being in possession of a firearm, a knife and violating his parole. Bobby claims however that the arrest was illegal, and that CPF members assaulted his boy in doing so while also contravening CPF guidelines on arrest protocol. Bobby claims CPF members beat his child, tied him up with cable ties, pepper-sprayed him and took him to the complainant’s house before taking them both to Roodepoort Police Station.
The CPF is a community body that acts as the eyes and ears of the police in an area, but do not have the power of arrest unless acting under the instruction of a police officer. Any citizen may effect a citizen’s arrest but must wait for the police to transport the potential suspect. They do not enforce parole conditions, and CPF and neighbourhood watch members are required to be vetted by the police station under which jurisdiction they fall, something the Roodepoort CPF could not confirm.
Bobby said he visited his son in prison several weeks later and he was still visibly bruised. The father wished to open a case of assault against the CPF members but has been unable to obtain a J88 form, which is a medical assessment of an alleged victim, from Krugersdorp prison where Duwayne is being held. Duwayne is still in custody, awaiting the outcome of a bail application that has been postponed to late June.
Regarding the March arrest of his son, Bobby claimed the firearm Duwayne had on him was gas-operated, something he sought after a senior CPF member allegedly had pointed a firearm at him. Since Duwayne’s release on parole in September, Bobby said the members of the CPF have targeted his son, even bringing a bat-wielding mob to their house to remove Duwayne.
“They tried to force their way over the gate and one of them shouted ‘bring hom uit, laat ons hom doodmaak’,” he recounted.
While Bobby did not witness the early-morning arrest of his son, he relays that friends of his son and those connected to both Duwayne and the complainant have come to their house to tell their story. A senior member of the CPF and neighbourhood watch in Davidsonville was given the right of reply via WhatsApp on May 26 and June 6, but by the time the article was published, no response had been received. The same right of reply was afforded to the chairperson of the Roodepoort CPF on May 31 and June 6 but, by the time the article was published, no response had been received.
The father accepts the flaws of his son and stressed that where a crime was committed, they would accept the consequences. However, Bobby is asking for consistency in the acts of those entrusted to look out for the community’s interests, and greater compliance with CPF guidelines.
