Community assaults suspected house robbers
The police have issued a stern warning against mob justice.
Three men suspected of house robberies in Mayfield were taken to hospital after being badly beaten by angry community members on July 10.
It is alleged that after the attack, the men were taken to the Putfontein SAPS for arrest, but the police failed to charge them because apparently community members refused to give their statements.
Standing outside the police station, demanding the immediate arrest of the men, a community member, who wanted to remain anonymous, said that over the past few weeks, there had been an increase in the number of house break-ins and other robberies in the area.
“The community is tired of crime. We patrol and apprehend these people and take them to the police station, but tomorrow, they are back on the streets. We are always told the community must work with the police to root out crime, but when we do, the police don’t take us seriously,” said the community member.
The Mayfield resident said because of a fear of being singled out, they wanted to open a case against the men as a group, but the police said they needed certain people to open the case.
The Putfontein SAPS spokesperson, Sergeant Raider Ubisi, said the police cannot arrest a person without a case or proof that the suspected person committed the crime.
“Community members claim that while patrolling at night on July 9, they came across suspicious men. It is alleged that when they approached them, one of the men started shooting randomly in the air. The gunmen managed to flee, but two men were apprehended.
“When the patrollers were called to come forward to open a case against the men, no one came forward, resulting in the SAPS releasing the men.”
Ubisi said again on July 10, community members attacked and apprehended three suspected house robbery criminals.
“No one answered when we enquired from the group what exactly they found the men doing. We then requested the house robbery complainants or those who could positively link the men to the crime to come forward, but they refused. They failed to open a case or give statements,” said Ubisi.
He urged community members to stop taking the law into their own hands.
In April, EMPD officers from the Bronberg Precinct rescued a 32-year-old man from a mob justice attack in Putfontein.
According to EMPD spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Kelebogile Thepa, officers responded to a complaint from a concerned member of the public about an angry community that caught a man they believed broke into a house on Geldenhuys Street.
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