Daily Sun (November 28 2013) - A MAN lies dying from mob justice inflicted by angry residents. Looking on, and doing little to stop the attack, is a policeman!
THESE PICTURES ARE FROM A VIDEO TAKEN BY A SUNREADER IN MAMELODI, TSHWANE, ON TUESDAY. The victim, whose name is not yet known, died in hospital.
Another body . . . but who cares? He becomes the latest statistic in the horrifying list of victims of "people's justice".
As in almost every other instance, the rage of residents was triggered by what they saw as the lack of response by cops to criminal acts. Daily Sun has been told that people were furious because the victim had escaped after several thefts.
In the video the attackers are heard to shout, "Who called the cops?"
The policeman is seen standing by as the man has sand thrown in his face. He is then kicked in the head.
The cop makes a gesture to stop the kicker, but moments later another attacker beats the man with a rod or stick without being restrained.
A second video of the situation, which shows the man being doused with water, was also filmed by a SunReader.
SunMan PHETOLO MOLOUTSI was on the scene in Mamelodi. He reports: The man was caught on Tuesday after he was accused of robbing a resident of her cellphone on her way to work.
He was stripped half-naked and a toy gun apparently used by him was thrown at him.
Daily Sun was told by one resident that the man had robbed three houses in two days last weekend and stolen DVD players, cell phones and jewellery.
"On Sunday, in the early hours of the morning, he was spotted by a community member pushing a wheelie-bin full of stolen appliances.
"When he was chased, he abandoned the bin and escaped," the resident said.
According to the resident, the man then broke into another house and stole a DVD player, a cellphone, jewellery and some money.
"A woman gave chase but he was too fast for her."
On Tuesday the battering, beating and kicking did not stop even when a uniformed cop arrived in a police van.
An ambulance eventually took the injured man to hospital.
On Tuesday, Mamelodi West
Police Captain Johannes Maheso said a case of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm had been registered.
But yesterday Maheso confirmed to Daily Sun that the beaten man had died.
"The case changes to murder but we will investigate further," he said.
When Maheso was asked about the apparent lack of police action to stop the the attack, he said he couldn't comment without seeing the video.
"As the police, we don't encourage mob justice.
"Members of the community are advised to call the police and not take the law into their own hands," said Maheso.
See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....
The Daily Sun is South Africa's largest daily newspaper with an average circulation of 291,132 (Audit Bureau of Circulations 3rd Quarter 2013) and a readership of 5.7m (as per AMPS 2012ab). Its Facebook page can be accessed here. It can be followed on Twitter here. To find about advertising on the Daily Sun click here.
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