THE incident in which an alleged rapist was brutally assaulted by community members on a farm in Felixton, has been condemned by Empangeni police.
Empangeni SAPS spokesman, Captain Mbongeni Mdalose, warned communities not to take the law into their own hands.
‘Communities cannot go around and think they are the law. ‘If the man was suspected of having raped someone, we as the police will deal with him. It is our job,’ he told the ZO.
An Empangeni Farm Watch (Security 4-U) official initially dealt with the incident after receiving a call last week Sunday, informing him that a neighbouring community in the Felixton area were chasing an alleged rapist who disappeared into the sugarcane, armed with a panga.
Larry Erasmus of Empangeni Farm Watch said that a Security 4-U official as well as K9 Castro of their dog unit, were dispatched to the scene. ‘On arrival the community surrounded the cane field and requested our assistance to track down the man.
Alternatively they were going to set the field alight to force the suspect out‘K9 Castro was deployed and he took the scent within minutes, located the suspect and brought him out.
‘Before we could arrest the suspect or load him in our vehicle, approximately 100 people from the community descended on the suspect, took him from us and began to beat him.’
According to one of the community members, who preferred to remain anonymous, SAPS were on scene, but did nothing to assist. Captain Mdalose noted that if this was in fact the case, someone should have addressed the issue with the police and not revert to mob justice.
‘I am unaware of the incident, but I will look into the matter and determine which officers attended to this case.’
Last month the ZO reported on a meeting held between farm workers and Empangeni Farm Watch officials, at which workers said they are growing tired of police not attending to or helping them with certain issues they are faced with in doing their jobs.
SAPS members were invited to the meeting but did not attend. Meanwhile K9 Castro, the hero of the day, was allowed to travel on the passenger seat for first time in his life. ‘It was more for his safety than anything else.
Our vehicle was damaged by flying bricks so we had to take precautionary measures to ensure he was safe.
He did enjoy the airconditioner though,’ laughed Erasmus. The suspect was handed over to Empangeni SAPS after being treated at Ngwelezana Hospital.
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