MINISTER MTHETHWA CONDEMNS JANE FURSE ASSAULT, COMMENDS POLICE FOR ARRESTS
PRETORIA - 17 April 2013. The Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa has condemned in the strongest possible terms, the grievous assault of an elderly woman at Jane Furse, Sekhukhuni District in Limpopo after a video of the assault went viral this week.
Equally, the Minister welcomed the arrest of the five suspects who have now appeared at Nebo Magistrate Court facing charges of assault with intent to do grievously bodily harm.
Interim investigations indicate that private security guards for certain store at Jane Furse Plaza accused an old woman for stealing clothes inside the store. It is alleged they then took her to the store room and began assaulting her several times; as a result sustained injuries to the body. It would appear one of the suspects recorded the entire ordeal through a cellphone, in fact is heard laughing on the background. Investigations further revealed that the incident occurred in October last year but the footage went viral this week.
"We condemn this horrible incident of assaulting a helpless, elderly woman and further commend our police officers for the arrest of the suspects. We are confident that at the end, justice shall prevail in determining who did what and why. Even if a suspect is arrested, the laws of our country determine that they still have their human rights as such there is no need really to begin to assault them."
"Much as we always advocate that police must arrest any perpetrator of crime, security guards are also not immune to the adherence of basic human rights. We therefore expect them to adhere to the code of conduct of security service providers which clearly states that, in the execution of their duties, they must act in a manner that promotes good discipline in the private security industry," added the Minister.