UPDATE:
CHARL CILLIERS: Three suspects appeared at the Secunda Magistrate Court for charges of a murder case.
It is alleged that the suspect brutally assaulted a 22-year-old man on Saturday night, 23 July 2016.
The victim later died in Witbank Hospital on Monday, 25 July.
The case has been postponed due to another arrest of the fourth suspect.
It has been postponed until Friday, 5 August.
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CHARL CILLIERS – A 22-year-old died in the Witbank Hospital on 25 July after he was allegedly brutally assaulted by several men at a tavern.
The man went to a tavern with a friend to play snooker on Saturday evening, 23 July.
One of the suspects apparently provoked him by pulling his chair away when he was about to sit down.
The owner of the tavern asked them to leave and thereafter, the man along with a friend went to a tavern opposite the petrol station that also has a snooker table.
The suspects followed them and one of them had a knobkerrie in his hand.
Thereafter, one of the suspects began to beat the man with a beer bottle. Another man hit him with the knobkerrie and a large stone was also used on the victim. The man who was beaten up managed to escape and fled to his house.
One of the suspects followed him and allegedly said he wanted to finish him off.
The victim’s friends managed to chase the man away and summoned an ambulance.
Charl Cilliers residents held a meeting on 26 July and requested to meet with the Community Policing Forum, because none of the suspects had been arrested yet and were seen roaming the streets.
Residents said not enough is being done by the police, because many assaults happen at the same tavern and suspects do not get arrested or when they are arrested, their cases “end up nowhere”.
Elderly women gathered at the brother’s house of the deceased on 28 July to show their condolences and said they are worried that crime is increasing in the area.
They said if the suspects keep roaming the streets, they will have no other choice but to request the station commander to explain why they have not yet been arrested, because the suspects are known by the community and there were witnesses who saw what had happened.
The deceased’s brother said his younger brother was a very quiet person and he did not know him as someone who loved liquor:
“My brother was employed in May at a mine and had everything to live for.”
Charl Cilliers Station Commander, Capt Alberts said a case of murder was opened and no arrest has been made yet because they are still investigating.
