Pretoria - The South African National Civic Organisation on Monday called for a probe into why the Sandringham police station in Johannesburg declined at the weekend to open a culpable homicide case against a driver who allegedly fatally ran over one-year-old Britney Ruguwa at a daycare centre.
The little girl died on Saturday after being run over within the premises of the Busy Bears daycare centre in Rembrandt Park, where her mother Chiedza Sjambok had dropped her off in the morning on her way to work. Sjambok said her family's efforts to get Sandringham police to arrest the driver failed.
"We are appalled by the reports that the police did not apprehend the motorist and instead they turned away little Britney's mother and told her to come back to the police station on Monday as it was a weekend," Sanco's first deputy president Packet Seaketso said.
"Sanco calls on the South African Police Service to speedily investigate this matter and take action against the police officers who failed to open a case against the motorist. It is incidents of this nature that dent the credibility and image of the police to the detriment of all other hardworking officers."
An initial case of reckless and negligent driving opened by Sandringham police was changed to culpable homicide on Sunday, but no arrest was made.