Cape Town – A cop from Lentegeur Police Station is under investigation after he allegedly drove over a child in Tafelsig and left without seeking medical attention for the injured boy.
The angry mother of Whafieck Kamaldien, 13, says her child was forced to remove his own leg from underneath the tyre of the police vehicle, which caused the flesh to be ripped off.
The Grade 6 pupil from Tafelsig Primary says he was walking in Pyrenees Street shortly after noon on Friday when a fight broke out between two groups of stone throwers.
“I was standing on the pavement and they were throwing stones, but he [cop] came to me and knocked me over. I got a fright and my right leg was under the wheel,” says Whafieck.
“He just came and said: ‘Jou donner, klim in die (you bugger get in the) van’. I had to pull my own leg out and that is when the vleis (flesh) came off.”
Whafieck says he was loaded into the back of the police van and was asked where he lives.
Mom Raeesa, 45, says she was sitting on the stoep when the police van arrived.
“I got a skrik (fright) and I was confused about why the police would stop by my house and that is when I saw my son was hurt,” she says.
“I couldn’t believe it because the whole leg was open and Whafieck was screaming that the policeman drove over him.”
The angry mother questioned the cop, who said he did not have time to take her son to hospital.
“I couldn’t understand it, there is a clinic right there, but he brings the child home?
“I asked who he is because he was in full uniform and driving a SAPS van and he just told me he is Sergeant Williams from Lentegeur and he didn’t have time to take my son to hospital because he is visiting family in Tafelsig.
“I was forced to carry the child myself to the clinic, but then the community came to help me,” she says.
Whafieck was taken to Mitchells Plain Day Hospital and was treated for a leg fracture.
“I went to Mitchells Plain Police Station in the dark and asked them for a lift home,” says Raeesa.
“I told the lady what happened and she informed me that I must go see the station commander at Lentegeur SAPS on Monday for the case.
“I am very upset; as a man of the law he should know he cannot do this.”
Police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana confirms a case of reckless and negligent driving has been opened for investigation against the cop with no arrests yet.
Daily Voice