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All you need to know about restraining orders

Love is jealousy at times since jilted lovers cannot stomach the truth that they can no longer be with a certain person, and this often results in them seeking revenge. The aggrieved party can become violent or threaten to disturb the victim’s peace by following them wherever they go.

However, the good news is that there is a law that protects the victims of unjustified behavior. For instance, a restraining order is one of the instruments that can be used to offer protection to individuals living in fear of someone that poses a real threat. Read on to learn all you need to know about restraining orders.

What is a Restraining Order?

A restraining order is a court order that aims to protect the victim from further harm or harassment. Love triangles usually result in violence, continued intimidation, and other undesired actions like stalking. If you feel that your ex-lover is intimidating you, it is vital to apply for a restraining order to keep the abuser away. A restraining order is also called a peace order and helps to keep the person abusing you away from your space that includes an apartment, home, or place of work. However, a restraining order is just a civil order that does not create a criminal record for the abuser.

Who Is Protected By A Restraining Order?

A restraining order aims to protect all victims of domestic violence. If you are subjected to domestic abuse by your spouse, ex-lover, or former member of the family, you deserve protection against continued harassment. Victims of abuse can include people from any age group, and acts of domestic violence include the following:

Physical and sexual assault
Stalking
Criminal trespass, mischief, sexual contact
Burglary
Kidnapping
Harassment
Homicide

In most cases, these acts are committed intentionally as a way of punishing the victim or just instilling fear. However, such action badly affects other people’s peace of mind. If you experience any of the above actions, you can seek a restraining order.

How To Apply For A Restraining Order

To apply for a restraining order, you should first file a petition with the court so that you can get a hearing. When you apply for a restriction order, you must prove the existence of abuse or harassment that can warranty its approval. Likewise, it is vital to enlist the services of a professional injunction lawyer so that you can get sound legal representation. The petitioner should furnish the court with substantial evidence to show that the violence occurred. The judges will then use the evidence you present to make a decision. This is when an attorney comes in handy since they know how best to handle such cases.

On the other hand, false injunctions are also common where the petitioner can apply for a peace order to spite the ex-lover. The respondent is advised to seek legal advice from an attorney if they feel that they are being framed for an offense they have not committed. All the same, you should also have strong counter-evidence to support your defense against the order. Injunctions come with serious consequences, so you should clear your name with the help of a professional lawyer. You can file an injunction order where the violence occurred, your place of residence, or where the respondent leaves.

How Does A Restraining Order Work

If the court approves and officially states that you are a victim of domestic violence, a restraining order is granted. The abuser should obey the protective order, and they should know the things they can or cannot do which include the following:

The abuser should not have any form of contact with you
The respondent may be asked to pay for costs resulting from the abuse
The court can ask the abuser to leave the house. The judge also asks the police to escort the abuser so they can remove their belongings from the residency
The judge can do anything to protect you
The respondent can be asked to go for counseling

Once the restraining order has been approved, it becomes enforceable. You should always carry the protection order such that if the abuser violates it, you can call the police. Any violation of the order is a crime.

Duration Of The Restraining Order

You first get a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) under the law, and you will be expected back in the court after a few days. The offender is also served with a copy, so they know when they are due for a final hearing. However, if the petitioner does not show up during the final hearing of the injunction, the case is dropped. Similarly, the respondent does not show up, an injunction order may be granted against them. The court would first want to know if the respondent received notice of the hearing. The other party can also ask for an amendment to the court order.

Challenging A Restraining Order

When a restraining order is issued against you, you should know that you can appeal it. You can also apply to have the order amended, modified, or dismissed. Likewise, appealing a peace order is not that easy since the court will use the evidence available to make a decision. You can appeal against an injunction where you feel any of the following elements exist.

Ex-lover seeking revenge as a result of jealousy
A spouse seeking custody of children in a divorce
The other party wants to solve cheating issues
Ex-lover wants to embarrass the other party
The desire to simply interfere with someone’s life
Mental challenges where some people just hate others
Seeking control
The other person wants to teach another individual a lesson

It is vital to consult with a professional lawyer to give you advice about the necessary steps that you can take.

When you feel that you are living in constant fear as a result of victimization by another person, particularly jilted lovers, you can consider applying for a restraining order. This law is designed to protect the victims of abuse or harassment by others. When you successfully apply for a court order barring your tormentor from interfering with you, it means that you can enjoy peace of mind. The order becomes enforceable once it is approved. Even when you move to another state, the restraining order remains valid. However, you should also know that the peace order can be challenged or canceled depending on various circumstances.

School principal charged with rape

A 39-year-old black principal from one of the high schools in Thabong who was arrested for allegedly raping an 18-year-old learner from his school, appeared before the Welkom Magistrate’s Court today.

The Free State police say he will apply for bail tomorrow. He was arrested on Sunday.

It is alleged that the man was dropping learners off at their respective homes after a school trip to Johannesburg on July 24.

Just before midnight, after all the kids were dropped off, he allegedly asked the complainant to give him a hug and a kiss in his car, after which he allegedly had sexual intercourse with her without her consent.

She reported the matter to a friend and a teacher.

A case of rape was registered.

South Africa has the highest rates of rape in the world, according to Interpol, and the highest incidence of HIV.

The National Prosecuting Authority tells us that 50 percent of all cases before South African courts are for rape, except in Durban and Mdantsane, where it is 60 percent.

Although the Law Reform Commission estimates there are 1,7 million rapes a year, on average only 54 000 rape survivors lay charges each year.

Rape survivors battle with the police, doctors, psychologists and the courts to get justice.

A Medical Research Council study into conditions for rape survivors in Gauteng in 2002 found that the treatment of survivors by police and medical and court personnel was deplorable. Two researchers were so traumatised by what they witnessed that they had to go for counselling.

Last year the cabinet removed Section 21 from the new Sexual Offences Bill, which would have given post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP, which is medication to prevent HIV) as well as medication to prevent STIs and pregnancy to rape survivors. They left in Section 22, which guarantees medical care for the rapist and undertakes to rehabilitate any alcohol or narcotics addictions he might have.

Professor Ames Dhai of the University of Natal points out that there are twice as many rape survivors at risk of seroconversion to HIV than there are babies born in South Africa to HIV-positive mothers, yet there are few calls for PEP for rape survivors.

Vehicle stonings on R300 increase

Motorists using the R300 near Cape Town have been cautioned to drive on a full tank and not stop for any reason – the latest warning about a stretch of road that authorities regard as a vehicle-stoning hot spot.

The warning from Western Cape traffic chief Kenny Africa follows an incident on Saturday evening in which a motorist narrowly escaped being hit by bricks hurled at his vehicle near Hindle Road.

IT technician Jeandre Terblanch was travelling towards Kuils River when he and other motorists were targeted by assailants standing on the side of the R300, just metres before the Hindle Road off-ramp.

Terblanch said three black men, two dressed in reflector jackets, picked up bricks and started pelting passing vehicles.

“My bakkie was damaged by one of the bricks. I was travelling in the slow lane so I managed to get away. The car travelling next to me in the fast lane was hit extensively. His windows were bashed in,” he said.

Terblanch said that when he came to a stop at a red traffic light, he checked to see if the driver of the badly damaged vehicle was unharmed.

“I looked for police or traffic officials alongside the road but could not spot any. I believe the guys (the assailants) were trying to cause our vehicles to swerve so that they could hijack and rob us. They could have killed us in the process,” he said.

The Delft and Kuils River cluster Community Policing Forum chairman Reginald Maart said yesterday that there has been an upsurge in vehicle stonings in the last two months.

He said the forum had been dealing with multiple complaints from Mfuleni to Delft and urged motorists not to travel alone along the R300 highway.

Terblanch said he had decided against reporting the incident to the police.

Intimidated, manhandled, locked up over lipstick message

A message written in lipstick on the side window of a car illegally parked in the complex where she lived, resulted in a petite white mother from Germiston spending hours handcuffed in a police station – an experience which still haunts her every day.

“I will have to receive professional counselling to try to come to terms with my horrific experience,” a tearful Susan Serwick, 41, told the Pretoria News.

She was arrested a day after writing the message on the car window.

The charge was malicious damage to property and resisting arrest.

Nothing ever came of the charges, and after spending a few fearful hours in the police station, she was told she was free to go.

Serwick is now claiming a total of R96 000 in damages from the Minister of Police – R66 000 for unlawful arrest and R30 000 in general damages.

Her nightmare was sparked by a car which was illegally parked on a yellow line in front of her unit in the complex where she lived.

It was at about 6pm on Sunday, March 16, this year and Serwick wrote on the side window “Don’t park here.”

“I only had lipstick with me and I did not know who the car belonged to. I only knew it was a visitor to one of the tenants.

“The next evening black policemen came knocking on my door. They said I had to go with them and an officer roughly grabbed me by the arm and cuffed me.

“The next moment he read me my rights. He said he knew how to deal with my type.”

Serwick said she at first thought she was being kidnapped, as the police were using an unmarked police vehicle.

She decided to walk out of her unit with the men, as she wanted to call someone in the complex to witness what was happening.

“They insisted that I go with them to the police station in their vehicle. I begged them to allow me to first fetch my teenage son from a gym, but they refused.”

Serwick said she was manhandled by one of the officers, who told her she was resisting arrest.

“I felt vulnerable as I was alone at home. I am a tiny woman and I was left bruised on my arms from the cuffs and the force with which I was handled.”

Serwick was detained for about three hours at the Mondeor police station before a family member was able to summons the help of a lawyer.

She was told she was free to go home, but she was warned to appear in court later.

The prosecutor, however, refused to place the case on the roll.

“I have lost all trust in the police. It was a horrific experience. I was taken from home without being allowed to first inform my family. My son was writing exams at the time and he was extremely traumatised by the events.

“Money will not heal my emotional scars. Nothing will fix what they (the police) damaged. I thought this would never happen to me. It still feels like a dream.”

Sources say the trespassing car owner is black.

Source: IOL

Sydney’s ‘Reclaim Australia’ rally against Islam

Five people have been arrested over sporadic violence in Sydney, where right-wing activists from the ‘Reclaim Australia’ movement held a protest with police trying to keep them separated from a counter-rally by pro-tolerance protesters.

Some 150 Reclaim Australia activists gathered in Sydney’s Martin Place to protest against what they called the Islamization of the country, some of them wearing Spartan outfits and carrying Eureka flags, controversial symbols of rebellion in Australia.

Separated by a police-enforced buffer zone, a counter-protest standing for multiculturalism and against Islamophobia gathered.

The five were arrested over violent clashes between the two rallies, AAP reported. Police said at least two of the arrests may lead to charges.

“We respect your right to protest and police will facilitate that and work to support peaceful demonstration on every occasion. But those who wish to come and commit offences, intimidate or be offensive will be arrested,” NSW Assistant Commissioner Alan Clarke told SBS News.

Similar pro and counter-rallies were held in other Australian cities on Sunday, including Brisbane, Perth, Hobart and Canberra, with no major incidents reported. In Mackay, Federal Coalition MP George Christensen addressed a Reclaim Australia rally, calling for action to defend the nation’s values.

“Our voice says we will not surrender, we will not sit idly by and watch the Australian culture and the Australian lifestyle that we love, and that is envied around the world … we are not going to see that surrendered and handed over to those who hate us for who we are and what we stand for,” he said.

Police said the Sunday rallies demonstrated a “good level of compliance” by the protesters, an improvement compared to the altercations of Saturday’s rally in Melbourne, when police had to use pepper spray to maintain order.

Reclaim Australia says it stands for maintaining Australia’s national identity and is against the spread of Islam in the country. Their critics consider them racist and accuse of neo-Nazi leanings.

“Claiming to be a patriot is one thing and being too patriot[ic] is another. We [Muslims] are a 2 percent minority here, so to say that radical Islam is taking over Australia is completely false, there’s no reality to it,” Waseem Razvi, president of Australia’s Islamic Research and Education Academy, told RT.

“A real patriot would not stand against minorities, but stand alongside the minorities, respecting the constitution and respecting the multicultural spirit of Australia,” he said.

The weekend protests come during this year’s Eid al-fitr festivities, when Muslims celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Bogus cops hijack motorist

A 37-year-old resident of Springs was hijacked Friday evening after he was pulled over by bogus black policeman at the corner of Springs Road and Denne Road, the Brakpan Herald reported.

The man was on his way home in his Mercedes Benz C180 when he noticed a white car behind him, flashing its blue lights.

According to information from the police, the man pulled over, thinking it was the police. The other vehicle stopped behind him.

The driver and passenger got out of the other vehicle and went to the man’s driver’s side window. One of the attackers immediately pulled out a firearm and they instructed him to move to the back seat.

One of the hijackers joined the victim in the back seat and the other started driving the Mercedes. After driving around for approximately 20 minutes, they dropped off the victim at a factory in KwaThema.

The victim ran to the factory to look for help and the factory’s security guards took him to the KwaThema Police Station, where a case has been opened.

The Herald recently reported on a similar case when a 34-year-old man was hijacked and kidnapped, on Friday, April 10, after he was pulled over by bogus cops in Denne Road; the victim was not injured.

Capt Joep Joubert, spokesperson for the Brakpan Police Station commander, said that if you suspect you are being pulled over by bogus cops, you can do the following:

– Acknowledge that you saw them and indicate that they should follow you.
– Put on your hazards and drive to the nearest police station or public place.

Sleeping cops go viral

Social media was abuzz on Monday after pictures of police officers sleeping while on duty circulated.

Posted by Amoré Sameera Jooste, the images show the two officers in deep sleep in a Wierdabrug police van.

The men were parked outside a Pick n Pay Express shop at the BP petrol station in Eldoraigne around 04:00 on Sunday morning, Jooste said.

Crime Line head Yusuf Abramjee also shared the images on his Facebook and said: “I have asked the Gauteng police commissioner to urgently investigate this and take the necessary action. I have also alerted the [Wierdabrug] station commander.”

Provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said the matter will be investigated.

“Sleeping on duty is misconduct,” he told Centurion Rekord.

Public warned against fake armed ‘cops’

Police have warned the public of fake police who have been driving around KwaMashu, Newlands East and Greenwood Park, robbing people.

Police spokesman Thulani Zwane said three men were driving around the area in a white Toyota Avanza fitted with a blue police light.

“They do not use police uniform, but they pretend to be members of the South African Police Service. They use a blue light to stop unsuspecting motorists and rob them,” he said.

Zwane said at about 9am on Sunday, the men used a blue light to stop the driver of a VW Golf in Ramchand Road in Greenwood Park. The victims were convinced they were police officers. When they stopped, the men threatened the two victims with a firearm.

“They removed the victims’ keys from the ignition and bundled them into the Toyota Avanza.”

One of the suspects drove off with the victims’ vehicle.

“They dropped the victims off at the corner of Nandi and Dumisani Makhaye Drive and drove away with the victims’ vehicle after robbing them of their cell phones,” he said.

Source: The Mercury

Intel warning: Gang attacks on white cops to spread

Law enforcement intelligence officials have put out a warning that someone has sent a text calling on people to kill “all white police officers” in reaction to the death of Freddie Gray while in Baltimore police custody, raising fears violence could spread nationally, according to safety memos obtained by The Washington Times.

Officers are being warned of possible ambushes and urged to change travel patterns and to tone down clothes or emblems that identify them as police.

The Baltimore police department separately put out a press release on Monday saying various gangs, including the Black Guerrilla Family, Bloods and Crips “haver entered into a partnership to ‘take out’ law enforcement.”

A memo from the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center is more specific, saying the gangs’ targets are white officers. Its report quotes another memo from the Eastern Shore Information Center in Salisbury, Md.

“Law enforcement officers are reminded to remain vigilant when conducting traffic stops and in general contact with citizens,” says the West Virginia center, which monitors criminals.

The Eastern Shore center “officer safety bulletin” states that the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office received information from a citizen who received a text with a Chicago area code.

The text said, “Kill all white police officers!! As many as you can!! Bunch of thugs with badges!!”

The Eastern Shore center took the text seriously enough to send out a warning to officers.

The guidance states, “Law enforcement officers are encouraged to remain vigilant when conducting traffic stops or other ‘routine’ contacts with citizens. Officers should be mindful of suspicious calls for service that maybe be conducive of an ambush.”

Source: Washington Times

Police commissioner working on Charlie Hebdo shootings found dead

A police commissioner, who had been investigating the attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine committed suicide with his service gun on Thursday night, French media reported.

Police commissioner Helric Fredou, who had been investigating the attack on the French weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, was found dead in his office.

The incident occurred in Limoges, the administrative capital of the Limousin region in west-central France, on Thursday night, local media France 3 reports.

Helric Fredou, 45, suffered from ‘depression’ and experienced ‘burn out’ according to the official statement. Shortly before committing suicide, he met with the family of a victim of the Charlie Hebdo attack and killed himself just before completing the report.

Fredou began his career in 1997 as a police officer at the regional office of the judicial police of Versailles. Later he returned to Limoges, his hometown. Since 2012 he had been the deputy director of the regional police service.

Thousands of US policemen turn their backs on NY mayor De Blasio

Tens of thousands of police from cities across the United States filled a New York City church and nearby streets on Saturday for the funeral of one of two policemen shot by a man who said he was avenging the killing of unarmed black men by police.

The service for Rafael Ramos was one of the largest police funerals in the city’s history, with US Vice President Joe Biden among the dignitaries. But the tradition-bound ceremony was marked by an unusual protest against Mayor Bill de Blasio.

As he rose to deliver the customary mayoral eulogy, thousands of uniformed officers outside silently turned their backs on him in a pointed display of disrespect as his image filled the large screens broadcasting the service.

Angered by the mayor’s qualified sympathy for nationwide demonstrations calling for police reform, some New York police officers had similarly shunned Mr de Blasio as he arrived a week ago at the hospital where Ramos and his police partner, Wenjian Liu, were declared dead.

“He believed in protecting others,” Mr de Blasio said as he stood behind Ramos’ coffin, which was draped in the police department’s flag and bathed in blue light, “and those who are called to protect others are a special breed.” Singled out for their uniforms, the slaying of Ramos, 40, and Liu, 32, as they sat in their patrol car has become a rallying point for police and their supporters around the country, beleaguered by months of street protests accusing police of racist practices.

Offering a counter-narrative to the anti-police chants at many protests, Vice President Biden made the first of several speeches that touched on the marked increase in the racial diversity of the city’s police force, which only a few decades ago was almost entirely white.

“I believe that this great police force of this incredibly diverse city can and will show the nation how to bridge any divide,” Mr Biden said during the service at Christ Tabernacle Church in the suburban Queens neighborhood in which Ramos lived with his wife, Maritza, and their two teenage sons.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the department had officers hailing from more than 50 different nations and included speakers of 64 languages. He went on to criticise some of the protesters who have held rallies in the city on a nearly daily basis.

“The NYPD protected the right of free speech even though they themselves were the targets of false and abusive tirades by some,” he said.

Sorrow mixed with anger

Streets outside the church were filled for blocks with neat, quiet crowds of officers in blue uniform, including delegations from Boston, Atlanta, St. Louis and New Orleans. Mr Biden said some 25,000 people were thought to have come.

Before joining the police department relatively late in his career, Ramos, known to his friends as Ralph, had worked as a school safety officer.

“He knew how to handle people, and the younger guys looked up to him,” said Bill Bratton, the city’s police commissioner. A regular face as an usher at Christ Tabernacle, Ramos had nearly completed a course to become a police chaplain.

Mr Bratton, a far more popular figure among police than the mayor, announced that he had posthumously appointed Ramos to the position.

The officers’ killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, was described by city officials as an emotionally troubled man, and fatally shot himself soon after the attack.

Brinsley, who was black, had written online that he wanted to kill police to avenge the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown — unarmed black men killed by white policemen in New York and Ferguson, Missouri, this summer.

Their deaths and the decisions not to prosecute the officers responsible ignited nationwide protests, renewing a debate about race in the United States that has drawn in President Barack Obama.

In his first year as mayor after campaigning for police reform, Mr de Blasio has struggled to balance the interests of police critics who helped elect him and the officers who now work for him. This week, he was assailed by voices on both sides, with activists angered by his call, which they ignored, that they pause their protests.

Ramos’ family said the mayor was welcome at the funeral, but even many officers who did not turn their backs said they sympathised with the gesture.

“A lot of people feel he has taken a side, and that side is not ours,” a New York police officer said on condition that her name be withheld because of a department ban on unsanctioned media interviews.

Patrick Lynch, president of the city’s largest police union, said within hours of the deaths of Liu and Ramos that there was “blood on the hands” of the mayor.

“We have to understand the betrayal that they feel,” Lynch, in an interview outside the church with CNN, said of the officers’ protest. “The feeling is real, but today is about mourning. Tomorrow is about debate.”

Farmers disgusted with Police Commissioner’s flippant remarks about farm murders

“Could someone perhaps assist the National Police Commissioner, Riah Phiyega, with the interpretation of farm murder statistics,” says TAU SA’s Deputy President and Chairman of the Safety Committee, Mr Henry Geldenhuys. He reacted on the Commissioner’s submission to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) where she said that farm murders are declining and that there is no difference between a farm murder and any other murder.

Earlier TAU SA released its figures for farm murders for 2014 until the end of September. Accordingly it seems that this year 53 murders occurred in 210 attacks. This represents a sharp increase over 2013, when until the end of September 43 murders occurred in 164 attacks. “It is amazing that on one hand the Commissioner may assert that there is a decline in farm attacks and murders, and on the other hand showing the error factor on the police’s own statistics. Presumably, other police statistics will be wrong too,” said Mr Geldenhuys. This unacceptable situation requires the SAPS have to make their own statistics public. There is no reason other than their own inability to try to disguise it, than to announce crime statistics on a regular basis.

“The HRC hearing has learnt about enough evidence of a lack of police action, for any reason whatsoever. Where appeals to the community to assist the police are made, the SAPS structures are not in place, as the chaotic situation around police reservists indicates.

“In some of the traditionally black communities it happens nowadays more regularly that the law is taken into their own hands because the police do not act. It will be a dark day if that kind of behaviour would spread. The farmers are becoming impatient with the feeling that they are free game,” said Mr Geldenhuys.

Lions rugby player hacked to death

Lions and Pirates rugby player Thulani Popoyi was found dead on 5 October at the Dollar Table, a night club in Melville.

Police investigations are underway for the murder of previous Golden Lions Sevens and Pirates black rugby player Thulani Popoyi who was found dead on 5 October at the Dollar Table in Melville.

Popoyi had been found brutally murdered. He had multiple stab wounds and his chest had been hacked open.

The 29-year-old was out with his friends and disappeared after a while.

His attacker did not take anything from him – he still had his belongings on him.

There was no blood where he was found, however, one of the car guards looked inside the club and discovered a trail of blood as if someone had tried to clean it up.

It appears that the Dollar Table has been operating without a valid licence.

Colin Law, Popoyi’s friend and guardian, was still in shock,“We don’t know how it happened, But my biggest concern is that a young man lost his life. The place was operating illegally,” he said.

Brixton Police managed to arrest the club owner for not attending to the scene immediately.

S. African blacks attack and rob injured white at accident scene

A businessman from Krugersdorp witnessed the scene, akin to something from a horror movie.

The victim of a serious motorcycle accident, a 20-year old white man, was robbed and dragged by his broken arm by a black mob at the scene of the accident.

Quinton Wagner, whose father was shot dead in front of him earlier this year by black house robbers, is now fighting for his life in the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, according to the Johannesburg daily Beeld.

He was hit from behind by a pickup truck on his motorcycle in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg.

About 20 black bystanders from a nearby minibus taxi rank fell upon Wagner, manhandled him and dragged hom five metres from the accident scene into the bushes.

Since being admitted to hospital on Friday, he has undergone three operations. Hy is unable to breathe by himself and is dependent upon a breathing machine. He also has blood in his lungs, his liver has been ruptured and six of his ribs broken, as well as his right arm and collar bone. Wagner’s pancreas has been damaged and he has injuries to his legs.

A businessman from Krugersdorp witnessed the scene, akin to something from a horror movie. He said the bleeding young man’s right arm was so badly broken that the bone protruded from this shirt. The black attackers nonetheless grabbed him by that arm and dragged him into the bushes.

He was notified by a client involved in the accident. Because he was not far from the scene of the accident he and a friend went there as soon as possible. But the blacks proceeded to rob them too.

“I could not believe my eyes,” he said. “We saw how the boy was dragged by his arms. When we got out of my pickup truck the robbers fell upon us too. The robbers tore the boy’s safety helmet from his head. He was lying on his rucksack. The robbers dragged him to and fro like a rag doll. They also fought among themselves to get hold of his shoes which they stole.”

The Good Samaritan said that the robbers held him when he tried to get to the victim. His wallet and his mobile phone were taken and his client was also robbed of his phone and laptop computer.

Police vehicles with black policemen inside drove past the scene without stopping and after a long time only one pickup van arrived, after the police were called.

“The CPF (Community Policing Forum, composed of volunteers, usually whites) cordoned off the road so that the emergency helicopter could land. When the helicopter tried to land, the robbers ran towards them to rob them too. The CPF kept them away while the two police officers went to sit to one side. They would not even take down statements.”

Solomon Sibiya, a police spokesman, could not be reached on Monday. He said no-one had informed him of the incident and he could not comment.