Cape Town - A vicious assault on cleaner Delia Adonis, allegedly by five drunk university students - which could see a Claremont police detective charged with defeating the ends of justice and bribery - has raised the ire of the ANC and the DA.
Both parties condemned the attack and called on the authorities to act fast to bring the perpetrators and the police officer to book.
Adonis, 52, a Manenberg mother-of-six, works as a cleaner at Stadium On Main in Claremont. She lodged complaints of assault at Claremont police station on October 18 after she was severely beaten, allegedly by five UCT students, on October 17.
Adonis told police she witnessed the five leave the Tiger Tiger nightclub and beat up another patron. After helping the victim by alerting law enforcement officers, Adonis said she was attacked by the five men, who also verbally abused her with racial slurs.
After reporting the matter she was contacted by a detective, who allegedly tried to bribe her into dropping the charges. Wynberg district State prosecutor Nathan Johnson said the detective had contacted the court to inform them Adonis had dropped the charges. Johnson was called and told the detective had lied.
“The State will look to bring charges of defeating the ends of justice and possible bribery against the detective this week,” he said.
Yesterday, ANC provincial leader Marius Fransman said: “It is clear racist issues are still festering and increasing in this province where some people are regarded as refugees - as if they have no rights. In recent times, racial abuse flourished with people called k****** and even baboons.
“The ANC calls on the nightclub to hand over CCTV footage to police, UCT to take action against such students, on the police’s provincial commissioner Arno Lamoer to have the claims investigated that a detective tried to make the mother’s charges ‘go away’, and the judiciary to get to the bottom of this matter.”
DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said: “I have written to the executive director of Ipid (Independent Police Investigative Directorate) Robert McBride urging him to launch an investigation into the alleged criminal conduct of the detective.”
Police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said: “The circumstances surrounding the assault case and the defeating the ends of justice case are still under investigation.
The member has been suspended on an unrelated matter concerning a police vehicle, and not on the current criminal case, which is under investigation.”
Cape Times