Mother’s Day spoilt
Being arrested for assault was not the way a Westenburg mother had planned to spend her Mother's Day this year.
POLOKWANE – Being arrested for assault was not the way a Westenburg mother had planned to spend her Mother’s Day this year.
Chrissie Magalies is angry and frustrated with the Westenburg police over her arrest for allegedly assaulting her aunt’s boyfriend.
According to her, she would not have assaulted Frans Butte if the police had responded to her call for help the previous day, Saturday, May 10.
“He came to my house and asked that I come outside because there was something he wanted to show me. When I went outside, he slapped me in the face twice and started to strangle me. I couldn’t break free from his grip so I bit him. That is how I got free and then he left,” Magalies claimed.
She alleged that, later that day, Butte returned. “He came with a knife and an iron whip that he made himself and he was shouting and swearing in front of the house. My two daughters and I feared for our lives and we started hitting him.
“The next morning I went to the police station to report the matter and opened a case against him for slapping and strangling me. As I left the police station he entered to open a case against me. As I was walking home, the police arrested me in Ben Harris Street,” Magalies explained.
She said she and one of her daughters were arrested. They each had to pay a R200 fine, sign an admission of guilt, and were then released.
Magalies said she was not happy with this, because the police did not do their work in protecting her in the first place. “Why should I pay for protecting myself and my family in our own home,” she asked. Butte denies slapping or strangling Magalies. “I saw her one-year-old granddaughter playing alone outside the yard. I went to tell her, and she started shouting at me and bit me on the chest.
“As I was walking home, her daughter came after me and stabbed me in my shoulder with a knife. I went to hospital and the next morning I went to open a case,” Butte said.
Butte confirmed that he went back to Magalies’ house, but he alleged that he went looking for his reading glasses, which he possibly lost when he was there earlier that day.
Capt Mohlaka Mashiane, Westenburg police spokesperson, confirmed that both parties had opened a case at the Westenburg police station.
“The woman signed an admission of guilt and that case was closed. Butte refused to sign an admission of guilt and said he would prove his innocence in court. He appeared before the Polokwane magistrate’s court on May 13, and was released on warning until his next appearance later this month,” Mashiane said.
He further said the police would investigate the allegation that Magalies had called the police and no one had responded. “As soon as we are done with our investigations in the matter, we will give comment,” he said.
