Family held hostage with sword, shears

CAPE ARGUS

The street in Eastridge, Mitchells Plain, where a man held his wife and three children hostage on Sunday, Photo: Ross Jansen

Cape Town -A Mitchells Plain man has been arrested after he was alleged to have kept his family hostage with a sword and a pair of grass shears in a seven-hour stand-off.

Police said the suspect had cut his wife on the chest with the grass shears and had also injured their five-year-old daughter and a teenage son.

“The girl sustained an open wound on her upper body, and her 18-year-old brother sustained an open wound on his left hand after he was assaulted with a sword by his father,” said police spokesman Colonel Thembinkosi Kinana.

Kinana confirmed the incident took place in De Larey Crescent, Eastridge, early on Sunday.

“At about 2.07am, Mitchells Plain police received a complaint of a domestic violence incident at a house in Eastridge where a 43-year-old man was threatening to shoot his family - his wife, and their children, aged 18, nine and five.

“Upon police arrival on the scene, police discovered that the suspect was threatening his wife and three children with a one-metre sword and grass shears and he kept them against their will in the house.”

Kinana said hostage negotiators were sent to the scene to try and secure the family’s release.

The police managed to remove the wife and the five-year-old girl, while the 18-year-old escaped on his own moments later, but the man refused to release the nine-year-old boy.

“Police members made several attempts to defuse the situation and at about 9.30am the suspect subsequently released his nine-year-old son unharmed,” Kinana said.

The suspect was then arrested. The woman and her two injured children were taken to hospital.

Neighbours said the street had been blocked off by police.

Julian Jerris said he was outside smoking when he heard screaming and police sirens and decided to have a look.

“He went to the main box and put off everyone’s power, I remember I still wanted to make coffee, then all the blue lights made me curious,” Jerris said.

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said residents wanted the suspect to leave the area.

“He was my friend, he was everyone’s friend… we don’t want him here anymore,” he said.

The suspect was in police custody and would appear in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s court on attempted murder charges, said Kinana. A court date would be confirmed on Tuesday.

yolisa.tswanya@inl.co.za

Cape Argus