Johannesburg - A three-year-old girl is traumatised after a Tshwane Metro Police officer allegedly threatened to shoot her.
This was after the child burst into tears when the officer asked her mother, the driver - who does not have a driving licence - for a bribe.
Seeing the child crying and fidgeting in her seat, the officer allegedly unclipped his gun, raised his voice and said: “If you don’t keep quiet, I’ll shoot you.”
Photos of the officer and his vehicle have gone viral on Facebook with a post saying the policeman held a gun to the child’s head and looted the vehicle.
The girl’s father said the gun was not held to his daughter’s head, but when his daughter arrived home, she kept saying a policeman wanted to shoot her.
“Now I am taking her to therapy. A policeman should not do that,” the 30-year-old man said.
The 25-year-old woman was driving with their two children, a two-year- old boy, who was strapped in to his seat in the back, and the three-year-old girl, who was in the passenger seat.
She was coming home from work when one of the two officers on the road stopped her.
“He approached me and asked for my licence. I was honest with him and told him I do not have one. He then asked what plan we could hatch for cooldrink money.
“I told him I don’t have money. The cop took out his gun, lifted it in the air, looked at my daughter and told her to shut up or he’ll shoot her.”
She said the officer reached into the car, ripped out the ashtray and took all the coins inside it - between R80 and R90.
“Moments later, he looked at me and said: ‘Have a nice day.’
“I drove off. When I got home, my daughter told her grandmother about the threats. My mother told me to return to the scene.
“On the way, my father phoned me. I told him what happened earlier and also the threats made to my daughter. My father said he was also on his way there.
“When the officers noticed us, they got into their car and drove off. Fortunately, my father was already there and we followed them.
“My intention was to take down their registration number. We tracked them down and they got out. This is when the photos were taken.
“My father approached the same officer who threatened my child. He asked him about the threats and he confirmed making them.
“He told my father he just wanted to ensure she kept quiet.”
Howard Dembovsky, chairman of the Justice Project SA, said everything they had heard about the case so far suggested that the men involved were actual metro police officers.
He said if these men were cops, they must be arrested immediately, denied bail and the seriousness of the offence meant their case should be heard by the high court.
“A maximum sentence must be given out. I would like to see this man go away for 30 years,” said Dembovsky.
“An example needs to be set.”
Acting spokeswoman for the Tshwane Metro Police, Superintendent Kuki Tshabalala, said on Tuesday morning she was not aware of the incident.
The Star