Mob justice for stealing old sliding door
The alleged thief was rescued from his attackers by the police.
A man was caught and beaten by community members for allegedly stealing a sliding door last week, according to Atteridgeville police.
The mob justice incident happened in Makhisane Street in Saulsville and raised concerns about a rise in such crimes in the area, said police spokesperson Mapula Rikhotso.
The alleged thief was rescued from his attackers by the police.
“No arrests were made for mob justice,” said Rikhotso.
“Since the old sliding door was recovered, the owners felt that they did not want to open a case against him.”
The man who was beaten by community members also did not lay any charges against the people who assaulted him.
According to Rikhotso, police are often faced with mob justice cases in which community members did not want to open cases, which meant that the suspects would not be arrested.
Rikhotso said not laying charges means that the same suspect might return to steal from the same people again.
“This is the problem we face when the community wants to enforce street justice by personally beating up the suspects.”
She said the police condemned mob justice because suspects should instead “go through the system, be detained and tried by the court of law as opposed to street justice”.
Atteridgeville station commander Brigadier Mbangwa Nkhwashu also discouraged mob justice behaviour and encouraged the community not to engage in them.
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