Angry Nellmapius Extension 6 residents torched two vehicles owned by a foreign national they accused of “terrorising the community for some time” on Wednesday morning.
The community said the suspect had earlier robbed a woman of her cellphone, which they had traced to his rented backyard room.
The mob allegedly assaulted the man until they were stopped by police when they arrived on the scene.
The mob, mostly women, also claimed the man was a rapist after finding a gun and balaclava hidden in the room.
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They demanded police leave the man to them so they could “teach him a lesson he won’t forget”.
Local councillor Joel Masilela told the mob to let the police do their job, and that if they took the law into their own hands they “will damage the case against the suspect”.
The mob, carrying an assortment of weapons, temporarily calmed down.
However, as the police locked the man in the back of their van, grew hostile again, pelting officers with stones.
Several police vehicles as well two vehicles believed to belong to the man were damaged.
Police fired warning shots to disperse the crowd before whisking the man away.
The man is known to the community as a foreign national who runs a learners transportation business.
The mob later went on a rampage again, stoning the man’s vehicles and setting them alight.
Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini confirmed the mob had torched the man’s vehicles.
“Police managed to control the situation and detained a suspect at the Silverton police station.”
He said residents’ allegations against the man would be fully investigated, but “a case of malicious damage to property and public violence will also be investigated against residents”.
“No member of the community has yet been arrested,” he said.
ALSO READ: East police condemn ‘mob justice’
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