Cop, soldier still free after assaulting suspected phone thief

Innocent Selatlhwa | Tuesday September 27, 2016 17:07

The hawker was assaulted on August 16th and sustained serious injuries that left him nearly paralysed.

Kgosi told Mmegi a few weeks ago that the agents beat him to a pulp leaving him unable to walk, eat or speak properly. His face and wrists were swollen, he had stitches on his chin, swollen left foot and bandaged right foot with a huge cut. He looked very weak and struggled to speak.

“I am still here. I cannot go anywhere and do business. I have nothing to eat and cannot pay my landlord yet the people who did this to me are walking free. I cannot even follow up with the police on the case,” Kgosi said last Friday at his home in Old Naledi.

Kgosi has since undergone a mini operation on his right foot and decries that the police who had promised to take him to the clinic daily are failing as they have not shown up for days citing transport shortage.

Kgosi was arrested and detained overnight by the Borakanelo police for allegedly stealing a cellphone from a woman at the bus rank. He said the following morning he was removed from the police cells and a special constable together with a soldier believed to be the woman’s lover, beat him to a pulp using a metal rod before some unidentified officers took him to Extension 2 Clinic. He was thereafter dumped at home. The phone was never recovered from him.

Contacted for comment, Borakanelo police’s assistant superintendent Botswelelo Pusoeng confirmed that they had not taken action against the officers. “No officer has been suspended from duty or charged. Investigations into the matter are still ongoing,” he said.