Dismayed residents of Lethabong Ward 100 in the Far East of Mamelodi want a “criminal” that is known to the community to be rearrested after police released him from custody under “questionable circumstances.”
According to community leader Martin Manthaka, the said criminal hijacked the car of one resident last Friday at around 12 midnight.
“The driver of the car was entering his yard when he was accosted by several men armed with guns but he fought back and managed to arrest one of his attackers though the car was unfortunately taken away by the accomplices of the said criminal,” lamented Manthaka.
“After hearing gun shots we as members of the community we managed to wake up from sleep and helped the owner of the hijacked car to detain the said criminal and hand him over to the Boschkop police, but we are surprised that the police released him as soon as we had handed him over to them and instead want to charge me with a case of assaulting the criminal,” explained Manthaka.
He said the criminal is still living in the community of Lethabong and is notorious for criminal activities in Lethabong.
Manthaka and several residents of Lethabong complained about the way the Boschkop police station handled this matter as they believe the station should not have released the criminal after they had handed him to them.
Meanwhile, the wife of the hijack victim told Tshwane Talks that she saw her husband and the community beating up the criminal after finding him fighting with his husband.
“It is unfair for the police to arrest community leader Martin Manthaka because the criminal was beaten up by the whole community,” she said.
She revealed that the criminal is currently on parole and serving the rest of his jail sentence, which will come to an end on Good Friday, at his home in Lethabong.
“I don’t know if the law has changed but my opinion is that if a parolee gets involved in any criminal activities then Correctional Services officials must come and take him back to prison immediately,” she said.
“We don’t feel safe as members of the community because guns were used during the hijacking incident and those guns have not been recovered yet,” she said.
Captain Maluleke of Bosckop police addressed the angry protesters that they that they will look into the matter and come back to them.
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