A man was reportedly beaten to death after trying to break into a policeman’s vehicle in Bellville South on Friday.
A policeman heard a noise outside a premises in William Taylor Street at about 1:45am and went to check.
There he found a man trying to break into his car, says police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk.
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‘He confronted the person and tried to arrest him. An attempted theft out of motor vehicle and assault case was opened at Bellville South SAPS for investigation.’
‘The members got a complaint of an attempted theft out of motor vehicle and assault at the mentioned address. When attending to the complaint they found a male person seriously assaulted,’ he adds.
‘The complainant pointed out the assaulted person as the one that tried to break into the vehicle. He was treated on the scene by medical personnel and taken to a nearby hospital for further medical treatment where he later died due to injuries sustained. Investigations continue with no arrest as yet.’
Van Wyk told Daily Voice that the case will be sent to the Department of Public Prosecution to decide whether the officer should be prosecuted.
Bellville South Community Policing Forum David Cecil says housebreaking is only one of the problems in the area. ‘There are houses which have been broken into 11 times in one week.’
‘There is an escalation in this type of crime, they change their modus operandi and target different areas at different times,’ he told Daily Voice.
‘Multiple houses are targeted in a week. Unfortunately, this one is different because someone died, but we can’t confirm what he died of, we don’t know if it was from the attack.’
‘The problem is the limited SAPS resources, [and] no police visibility. This is why we sat down with ADT to come up with a solution to assist the community, this is because of the lack of police resources.’
‘Speaking with ADT doesn’t mean people won’t pay but we think we need extra security for the area, which is a priority. The criminals here don’t sleep, no one can comprehend how busy they are. We have spoken to the police to focus on Bellville South, we need intervention.’
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Picture: South African Police Service / Facebook