Police probed in woman’s death

Douglas’ death is the subject of an Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) investigation. According to IPID national spokesman, Moses Dlamini, a group of policemen saw a woman driving on the N2 from Port Shepstone towards Umkomaas at about 7.30pm. The police officers were in three vehicles, two of which were marked. The third was an unmarked white Golf. “The officers claim that the woman was driving recklessly and that when they tried to stop her, she sped off and a chase ensued,” he said.

“The policemen fired shots at Ms Douglas’s vehicle. She lost control of the vehicle, it overturned and she died at the scene. It is alleged that the policemen reported only the accident and concealed the fact that they had fired shots at the vehicle,” said Mr Dlamini.

However, when the vehicle was towed, the station commander noticed the bullet holes. He questioned the officers concerned who could not give a reasonable explanation for the shooting. The station commander then informed the IPID as required by Section 29(1) of the IPID Act. A docket of murder and defeating the ends of justice was opened. No arrests have yet been made.

Douglas’s devastated mother, Leonie Luckin (72) gives a different account of how events unfolded on that fateful evening and is now trying to piece together what could have happened to her only daughter.

Luckin said when Douglas, the owner of the Red Rooster restaurant at Spiller’s Wharf in Port Shepstone, phoned her that evening she was shouting for ‘them’, allegedly the police, to stop pulling her out of her vehicle. “I don’t know where she was at the time, but I heard her say she wasn’t getting out of the car,” she said.

“Leanne was terrified. She told me she was being chased by the police, and that she was travelling to Durban to see me. She couldn’t talk, she was driving like mad to get away. She never mentioned anything about an unmarked police car.”

When she phoned her daughter back, she said Ms Douglas was ‘absolutely petrified’ and could barely talk. “The police are trying to kill me, they have been following me all the time,” were the last words Luckin heard, followed by the chilling sound of a gunshot and screams. “That was the end of it. I don’t know if she rolled the car or if she was hit by a bullet.” Luckin phoned Douglas’s lawyer, who called her back a while later and told her that her daughter was dead.

“I have to get to the bottom of this. I have to get retribution for Leanne,” she said. “I lived for her, she was my only darling daughter, now I have nothing to live for,” she said, tearfully. “Police can’t just shoot. They also can’t just expect motorists to stop as one hears about criminals posing as policemen all the time.” According to Luckin, her daughter was desperate to get away from the police as they had allegedly arrested her without a warrant a month ago.

Luckin added that Douglas had had an altercation with police after being charged with malicious damage to property. She apparently bumped her neighbour’s scooter and he laid a charge. The charge was dropped, but a policewoman nevertheless arrived at Douglas’s house and tried to arrest her without a warrant, her mother claimed. It is alleged the policewoman slapped Douglas and forced her out of her flat, handcuffed her and took her to the Southport SAP prison cells. Charges were again brought against her and she appeared in court several times, with the case being postponed on each occasion.

Last Thursday, Douglas appeared in Port Shepstone Magistrate’s Court where it is believed the policewoman’s lawyer told her all charges would be dropped if she bought a top-of-the-range cellphone, costing in the region of R6,000, for the policewoman. Luckin said her daughter refused, as she believed this to be extortion, adding to the list of questionable practices.

Luckin did not know whether this incident was linked to her daughter’s death, but suggested the police officers could have been looking for revenge.