Failed by Lady Justice?

Horrific threats and the abrupt murder of a close friend have left a Lakeside family beyond shaken.
According to a resident who wishes to remain anonymous for safety reasons, the issue started with a man who forcefully moved into their house at Lakeside Bhekuzulu 6B (as was the issue of the war waging on between the home-owners who had title deeds to the houses and the people who are said to have forced their way into these homes last year).
The resident said that a man who was apparently leading the group of community members that forced their way into the houses at Lakeside took residence in a house that was under her name.
“The title deed clearly indicated that the house was mine, yet he moved in,” she says.
Two weeks ago, the resident and her husband called the police and informed them of the matter.
With her husband and three other family friends, the police then went to Lakeside and removed the man from the house.
The man has since, according to the resident, sent threats to her husband and family friends after the incident.
One of the friends was shot and killed last week. It is alleged that the man is behind the murder.
The case was reported to the police, said the resident who believes that nothing has come of it.
“We informed them that we had found bullets in the house that had been left behind when the man moved out and that this might help with their investigation yet they did not pitch,” she recalls.
After many failed attempts to receive help from Vryheid police the resident decided to contact the Community Safety Department in Pietermaritzburg but was referred back to the Vryheid SAPS.
After speaking to an officer and reporting the case, the resident said that they received yet another threat from the menacing man in the form of an sms informing them that he knew that they had been to the police and that he was watching them.
The family are led to believe that the man has an informer at the police station.
The resident is especially fearful as they have children and are not sure how far this man will go to prove a point.
“At this moment we don’t know whose bullet to fear, the criminal’s or the police officer’s? If this man has someone working for him at the police station, he is obviously paying them to leak information and if we keep pushing, this person may also want to kill us for trying to get their meal-ticket behind bars,” she says.
The family have lost faith in the police and if anyone were to attack them at night, they would rely on the help of neighbours who may hear their calls and respond.
According to SAPS’s Communications Officer Major Mbatha, the police are currently working on a case of a man who was shot by unknown suspects last week at Lakeside.
Major Mbatha believes that this might be the same “family friend” this resident is referring to.
“This matter, regarding those houses is a very difficult one as people need a court order in order to remove those who are said to have moved into their houses forcefully,” he said.
Major Mbatha said that the SAP were receiving more of these cases every day and that the dispute seemed to be far from over.
He encourages the resident to come forward with the information that she has as it may lead to the arrest of the suspects who committed the murder.

(Photo from stock images)