Sunday evening did not go well for Botha, as someone drove into her new car and they had to complete an accident report at the police station for insurance purposes.
“When we arrived at the police station at 8.20pm, the officer on duty was neatly dressed in his uniform, but was wearing earphones at the time,” said Botha.
She asked the constable what he was listening to and he replied it was a church service.
After Botha had to repeat herself several times, she asked the policeman to remove his earphones.
“He refused and said he was not listening to music, but to a church service,” she said.
After a while Botha sought the help of a colonel on duty who also asked the constable to remove the earphones.
According to Botha he said “nobody will take me away from my church”.
It is alleged the colonel asked him again and he totally ignored the colonel.
She added the constable was getting very impatient with her when she asked him to read from her driver’s licence as she wasn’t wearing her glasses and couldn’t see.
Due to the fact that Botha was scared mistakes might appear on the accident report, she insisted on getting someone else to help her.
“If the insurance company finds mistakes on the report, they might refuse to pay out,” she said.
A very friendly and helpful constable came to Botha’s rescue and within no time the report was written.
According to Springs police spokesman Captain Johannes Ramphora a disciplinary file was opened against the police officer who is involved in the transgression, for further investigation.
“Management requests Botha to submit a statement under oath to finalise the matter for hearing, however, we apologise for the inconvenience,” said Ramphora.
Botha added the police are there to give a service and although she does not say the constable is a bad policeman, to ignore an officer gives a bad reflection to the public.
Ramphora concludes that management also apologises for the bad behaviour of the member and said their obligation is to serve and protect.
