Hitch hiker points fingers at “unhelpful police officers”

The father of two children is still in shock, following an incident in which thugs allegedly attacked and injured him in full view of security officers at the Elim Hospital.

He is worried that the police are not doing enough in dealing with his case. Although the incident took place a few weeks ago, the man was only now prepared to talk about his ordeal.

He said that he got to the hiking spot opposite the hospital at around 19:00 on the evening of the incident. He had just finished work in the Elim area, and he was going home to his fiancée and two children in Louis Trichardt. “Two men approached and asked me where I was going, but soon they started attacking me,” he said. “They hit me with bricks and beer bottles, so that I could fall and then they could search my pockets.”

It was quite dark, and he realised that the only side where he could run to was the hospital's gate, since there are always security officers on duty. With the men in pursuit, he hurried towards the hospital where he pulled open the guard room at the gate and slipped inside.

“I quickly told the guard what was actually happening, while I leaned against the closed door with all my might to prevent my attackers from opening and getting in,” he said. “But one other security officer helped the attackers to open the door from the outside.”

He said that the two men stormed inside and started attacking him with steel chairs and everything they could lay their hands on, injuring him on the back. He also sustained injuries on his head.

“After that, the attackers left,” he said. “My attackers had changed their tune and said that I was attempting to rob them. I continued to the hospital, where I was treated and got some stiches on the head.”

He said that he reported the matter at the Waterval Police Station. He only received a call from the police six weeks later to ask if he was still interested in proceeding with the case, he said.

“I was flabbergasted by the police's attitude,” he said. “That was an insult to me; it seemed like they were surely undermining me. I feel sad that the security guards and the police didn't bother to help me, a victim of a mugging for that matter. I always leave work late, and now I am afraid to hitch hike, since I fear for my life. The police should try and solve this case, so that the criminals should learn never to terrorise us, or else the community will always take the law into their own hands if the police continue not to act against crimes.”

The provincial police's spokesperson Col Moatshe Ngoepe said that any victim of crime was most welcome to request to see the chief of detectives or the station commander in that police station to check on the progress of their case. “The victim in question should approach the station commander, Lt-Col Maluleke, and then present all his grievances,” Ngoepe said.

News - Date: 28 July 2019

Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

Email: [email protected]