A PORT Shepstone couple who recently went to report a ‘fender-bender’ accident at Port Shepstone police station say they were manhandled and locked in separate rooms while their children sat waiting for them in the car.
According to the couple, who chose to remain anonymous, a metered taxi owner and his wife arrived at their house the morning after what they believed had been a minor accident, demanding payment of R1500.
An argument ensued between the two parties, and the couple went to the police station to report the accident. “When you are involved in an accident there are legal procedures to follow. We didn’t like the manner in which they were demanding payment either,” said the couple.
When they arrived at the police station they saw the taxi owner talking to two plain clothes police officers. The wife explained that as they walked past the men, one of the officers used vulgar language, and then grabbed her husband and twisted his hands behind his back. The couple say they were dragged inside and forced into separate rooms.
“They pushed me into a waiting room and my husband into a cell. We were treated like common criminals for no reason other than that taxi owner’s wife knows the policemen,” claimed the wife. The couple added one of the policemen ‘reeked of alcohol’. “What stopped the policeman from charging us for public disturbance was when I asked if I could take him for a breathalyser test,” said the wife.
The couple had stopped to open the case en route to the beach to celebrate their daughter’s birthday. Their three children, aged 12, 10 and 2 years, had to wait for three hours in the car. Eventually the mother was permitted to take her children home.
When the woman returned to the police station she explained to another police officer what had happened and her husband was released. They were not charged. When they tried to get hold of a supervisor at the station, no one was available.They couple, who are outraged by the incident, say the ordeal has left them and their three children shocked and traumatised.
Police spokesman Captain Vincent Pandarum said the matter was under investigation.
