Cape Town - A Mitchells Plain father has opened a case of malicious damage to property after policemen “who acted like a crowbar gang” broke into his home and told his daughter they were looking for drugs.
The man’s 23-year-old daughter, who later identified one of the cops at the police station, says the cops left when they realised they had searched the wrong house.
The woman was home alone on Sunday when she heard a commotion at the front door about 6.30pm.
She says the next moment, several men broke down the front door of their Leeubekkie Street, Lentegeur, home and stormed in.
The frightened young woman went to hide under a bed and managed to send an SMS to her father, 51, who was at work.
“I was watching TV and it was already dark when I heard people at the door,” she explains.
“I watched them through the window and I saw that they had balaclavas over their faces.
A case of malicious damage to property was opened.
“They had a crowbar and were using it to open the door and gate.
“They were banging on the door and I ran to my bedroom and hid under the bed.”
She texted her dad: “Some1 is trying to break in. Plse help.”
The daughter's frantic texts to her dad.
She followed this up with another message minutes later: “It was the police.”
“They asked me to come out from under the bed and said they were police,” she says.
“They were shouting at me, asking where the person was who had the drugs. I asked if they had a warrant.”
She says a “senior police officer” then checked their door number and said they had the wrong house.
“They had on badges without the police part showing and they had on bulletproof vests.
“I thought they were the crowbar gang at first. I told them we do not sell drugs.
“Then the cop, who was the leader, looked at our house number and said they had the wrong house and said we must make a claim with the police.”
Balaclava-clad cops mistakenly trashed a Lentegeur house in their search for drugs.
Traumatised
The father opened a case and says his daughter has been left traumatised.
“They damaged the door, gate and wall and didn’t even search the house and admitted they had the wrong house,” he says.
“My daughter had to see the doctor because she is very emotional and stressed out.
“When I visited the police station immediately after the incident, my daughter pointed the police officer out who had told her to come out from under the bed.”
Police spokesperson, Siyabulela Malo, did not confirm that the men who had raided the house were cops.
“A case of malicious damage to property has been registered after two unknown men wearing balaclavas and carrying crowbars entered the premises.
“It has been reported that the two suspects, who claimed to be police, came into the premises and forced to search a house without a search warrant.”