An angry mob beat a man (36) to a pulp in Marikana-Promosa because they believed he was a burglar. He passed away in hospital last Wednesday.
According to Sgt Kelebogile Trom, the Ikageng spokesperson, the police received a call at about 13:30 that the community was assaulting a person they suspected of housebreaking.
‘On their arrival, they found a crowd of people with the badly injured man, Edward Kleinhans. He was unconscious and bleeding from his nose and mouth. He was naked and had bruises on his body,’ said Trom.
She added that there were stolen items that were allegedly found in his shack next to the unconscious man. They belonged to a 25-year-old woman who had reported a burglary the day before.
‘They called for an ambulance to transport the critical man to Potchefstroom Hospital. He died in the intensive care unit as a result of his extensive injuries,’ she said.
Trom has condemned this incident and says the police are investigating a murder case.
She issued a stern warning to community members who take the law into their own hands.
‘Mob justice is a criminal offence and the community must rather let justice take its course. They should apprehend the suspects without harming them and call the police to enact the arrests,’ she stated.
Trom says there has been a spate of mob justice attacks in the last four months where community members have assaulted burglary suspects badly before calling the police.
‘Crime affects all of us but we must not let anger cloud our judgement by assaulting people,’ she warned.
