A Soshanguve man who was shot and his car badly damaged when police chased him, is preparing legal action against the police.
Joseph Ngobeni (59) told Rekord this week that he had sought the services of a top civil case lawyer from Pretoria North to help him with the case.
“The lawyer is busy with preparations for filing a lawsuit. I can’t let them (police) off the hook easily. They have to pay for what they did. I want compensation for the suffered damages and injuries,” said Ngobeni.
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He said the lawyer is studying the case, building up on the evidence available and will submit a claim soon.
Ngobeni and two family members (aged 14, 33) were driving along Buitekant Road when the “chase” started, followed by the shooting.
Ngobeni and his 14-year-old granddaughter, Kutlwano, both suffered shoulder injuries when police opened fire on suspicion that the car they were driving in had been hijacked.
A hail of bullets fired by police pierced holes through the car, damaging the back and front windows.
Ngobeni said since that day, police have not even said sorry to him.
“They have never returned to my house to apologise or to explain themselves”.
Ngobeni is preparing to sue the Minister of Police for R2 million.
Ngobeni’s lawyer, who refused to be named, told Rekord that there was ground to sue.
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“There’s clear evidence of misconduct and negligence on the part of the police. We are working on the case, and we can confirm that we are taking legal action against the police minister,” he said.
Ngobeni opened a case of attempted murder against the police at Soshanguve police station but the case was referred to the Independent Police Investigations Directorate (Ipid), a body that investigates cases involving police officers.
The shooting continued up to Ngobeni’s drive-way when police realised they were shooting at a wrong car.
“After they realised their mistake‚ they simply drove off without assisting the injured,” said Ngobeni.
“They claimed they received information from a stolen vehicle tracking company that the car was hijacked,” he said.
Ngobeni said the teenager who was rushed to George Mukhari Hospital after being shot has been discharged and was recovering at home.
Ngobeni said he was driving home on Friday night around 19:00 when a bakkie that was following them at high speed curved in front and blocked his way.
“The bakkie did not have clear police markings. We were all frightened. We thought it was a hijacking,” said Ngobeni.
As the men got out of the bakkie carrying firearms, the driver, Ngobeni’s 33-year-old son Sidwell‚ reversed to get away.
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He said the armed men got back into the bakkie, put on blue lights and gave chase.
“They opened fire and this continued for about 5km and they chased us to our driveway. It was only when my eldest daughter came out of the house screaming for them to stop that they stopped firing‚” Ngobeni said.
Rekord counted six bullet holes in the back of the car but Ngobeni estimated that 20 bullets had been fired during the chase.
Ngobeni said he went to the Soshanguve Police Station to open a case of attempted murder against the officers.
Ipid spokesperson Moses Dlamini said this week that investigation into the attempted murder case opened by Ngobeni was continuing.
“We are investigating a case of attempted murder against two police officers, a constable and a warrant officer. No arrests have been made yet,” said Dlamini.
Dlamini said the Ipid was also investigating why the case was referred to it only four days after the incident.
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