Cops, couple in violent stand-off

Morgan Parmasiven who did not want his photo taken, with Omi Nair and Pastor Selvan Govender.

Morgan Parmasiven who did not want his photo taken, with Omi Nair and Pastor Selvan Govender.

Published Jun 17, 2018

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Durban - They're known as the couple who carry guns on their laps while travelling - and have a plan of action for every traffic light in case the bad guys pounce.

So when Morgan and Yuvette Parmasiven saw four strangers pull up outside their Chatsworth home in a white car, they were ready.

Morgan warned them to leave and fired a shot in the ground, which sent them racing away.

Next thing, the father-of-three was arrested and now faces four counts of attempted murder, while an angry community has lashed out at police.

It turned out the four strangers were undercover policemen, deployed to Chatsworth after a spate of violent crime that culminated in the recent shooting death of 9-year-old Shallcross girl Sadia Sukhraj in a hijacking.

The Parmasivens and other residents claim the plain-clothes policemen returned and fired at the family, then ransacked their home.

Community leaders are outraged. “We find ourselves in turbulent times where the people who are tasked with protecting the community seem to be working against us,” said Omi Nair, a member of the Crossmoor Crisis Committee.

“The actions of the policemen are questionable and warrant an inquiry with possible disciplinary action. 

"Their unacceptable behaviour brings the police into disrepute. Crime is reaching such proportions that it is very worrying. 

"If we now have to second-guess whether the police are there to help or attack.”

The drama began when the Parmasivens, who recently celebrated their 21st anniversary, arrived at their Crossmoor home from Phoenix with their 16-year-old son.

“Our two other kids were home with their 17-year-old cousin and an aunt. 

"When we returned exhausted at 9.20pm, all we wanted to do was rest, but just going out to move our second vehicle into the yard brought our road to a standstill,” said 53-year-old Morgan.

“If you see four men in a white car stop in your driveway and your wife is looking on in shock, what do you do? All I thought was that I had to protect my family,” he said.

The couple said they live in fear because of the crime in their area - they were held up in their home 13 years ago.

“We were traumatised for years,” said 35-year-old Yuvette. “I was on medication for four years.

“Eventually my husband and I decided we needed to arm ourselves to ensure our family would be protected. 

"We drive with our guns on our laps. At each traffic light we have a plan of what to do in case someone approaches. We are ready to protect our family.”

On Thursday night, as Yuvette parked, Morgan carried both guns on his way to the road to bring in the other car. But he stopped when the white car pulled up. 

“They stopped and looked at me and never said a word. I looked behind and my wife stood frozen. Luckily, our son had already gone into the house,” said Morgan.

“As they opened their doors slightly I pointed the guns and said ‘Step into the car and do what you want somewhere else’. I said it three times and they heard it because they closed the doors.

“But they still stared at me, so I pointed a gun to the ground and fired, which made them speed off,” said Morgan.

“We just reached the house door when we heard a gunshot. We locked the door and took our kids and worker upstairs for safety.

Yuvette said: “I called our aunt to ask her to call the police stationed at the joint operations centre for help and when I looked outside the window I saw the four guys running towards the house and firing, but they were putting on police vests in the process.”

Realising a misunderstanding might have occurred, Yuvette tried to defuse the situation. But she said this led to more bullets being fired.

“More police officers came to our home and people stood outside trying to calm the situation but the four men kept swearing and threatening to kill my husband while our 5-year-old daughter kept saying ‘Mummy, please tell them not to kill me, I don’t want to die’,” she said.

Out of fear and for the safety of his family, Morgan was ready to hand himself over, but his family refused.

“If he went out he would have been dead,” said Yuvette. “My husband has stage 4 adenoid cystic carcinoma, that is cancer in the secretory glands. We cannot lose him for protecting his family. We managed to get a number for Brigadier Kevin James (the new Chatsworth Police Station commander). I explained everything to him and how we were scared for our lives, and he saved the day. It was only because of Brigadier James that my husband is alive and we are all safe.”

However, she said two officers thereafter rummaged through the family’s belongings looking for other firearms and bullets.

Morgan was charged and released on R2000 bail.

The family, who own an aluminium business, said all they want is for their names to be cleared - and for their guns to be returned.

Said Morgan: “I have been charged with attempted murder, what about them (the police officers)? There were seven people in my home when they were shooting at us.

“I am well known in the community and I am a member of the local temple. These police officers behaved like thugs. If they said they were police officers or displayed a badge or some kind of identification we wouldn’t have had any problem.”

Pastor Selvan Govender, who also tried to calm the situation outside the home that night, said the community was threatened with tear gas.

“Considering that this family have been targeted before and they always have money around, it was a perfectly normal reaction on Morgan’s part,” he said. “He felt his family was under threat so he tried to protect them. If one of the officers produced an ID, it could have been much different.”

James declined to comment and SAPS’s communications office had not replied to questions by time of publication.

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