Cape Town - A young Delft dad has been hospitalised after a police officer allegedly tried to chop his hands off with an axe after accusing him of stealing.
The traumatised father of the victim, Kelvin van Wyk, 34, says he watched in disbelief as his son came home on Sunday covered in blood that was streaming from his hacked wrists, face and back, and begging for help.
Freddie De Villiers, 58, says the incident could leave his son permanently disabled.
Freddie and his wife, Naomi, 62, have reported the police officer living in their road to the management of Delft SAPS, demanding he be charged with attempted murder.
Freddie says Kelvin left home at 11am to work at the cop’s house, where he had been doing general construction work for about a week.
“Kelvin and other guys in the road were all working for that cop because he was extending his house,” the father explains.
“We believe he works for the cluster officer that includes Delft.
“On Sunday, Kelvin left at about 11am and between 1pm and 2pm, I heard him shout ‘Mammie’. I looked outside and saw him bleeding.
“It was horrible. He told me they hit his hands with an axe.”
Naomi says she rushed to get a cloth to stop the bleeding and one of his fingers was hanging by a thread.
“I couldn’t believe it and we went to the Day Hospital where they had to tear the clothes off his body because he couldn’t move his hands,” the emotional mother says.
“They took him to Tygerberg Hospital and he went for an operation where they had to stitch him up and re-attach one of his fingers, but they don’t know if his hands will work again.”
According to the J88 form completed by the doctor, there is a “large chop-like injury” on Kelvin’s hand.
The parents say they were told that he had allegedly stolen a grinder.
“That guy and four others attacked him in that house and then held him hostage.
“He jumped from the second-storey to escape.
“They stabbed him with scissors in the back and his face is also cut.
“We went to the police and the station commander said Kelvin must come in and give a statement, but he is in hospital,” she says
The chairperson of the Protected Neighbourhood Watch, Piet Siegelaar, says the community is upset with the cop.
“They should have handed him over if they believe he stole something, not use an axe on someone,” he says
Daily Voice visited the cop’s house on Wednesday but nobody was home.
SAPS’ Siyabulela Malo says Delft cops have no record of the incident.
“The complainant is advised to come forward and lay a charge if it is believed that he was assaulted by the police members,” he says.