Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Theuns Potgieter falsely arrested, kicked by SAPF

07:21 | Posted by Censorbugbear | | Edit Post
21
ShareThe police at the Pretoria Moot police station refused to register his complaint that he was repeatedly kicked by a police-officer during his arrest… The Afrikaner was kept for six days in a police cell, was vomiting and passing blood in his urine after assaults…
Theuns Potgieter falsely arrested, legal gun confiscated, brutally kicked by Pretoria SAPF April 21 2011
When 33-year-old Afrikaner Theuns Potgieter of Silverton went to get two tyres fixed at a Gezina fuel-station with a friend on April 21 2011, at 21:14. he carried his legal handgun inserted in the back of his trousers. Suddenly a large number of police officers descended on the Afrikaner inside the fuel-station premises. He was kicked repeatedly in the stomach, handcuffed, his legally-registered gun confiscated. He needed treatment at hospital after his ordeal, which was recorded on CCTV... He was arrested for ‘resisting arrest’ and ‘having an illegal firearm’. Source: Hilda Fourie, Beeld.

The footage shows that he did not resist arrest at any stage: "When I saw the uniformed men coming in, and before they even spoke to me I had already taken out my handgun and placed it on my car's engine-cap, telling them that my firearm-registratiion license was legal, but was at home,’ he told Beeld newspaper.

He en his friend Hendrik Grobler, 34, who had gone to the petrol-station with him that night, were both ordered to lie down on their stomachs. Beeld photographed the CCTV-footage which showed what happened next: a man in civilian clothing who had been with the police and had been seen talking to them outside the fuel-station just before they all descended on Potgieter, then walked up to the Afrikaner and kicked him hard, several times in the stomach. And then the unresisting Potgieter was arrested for 'resisting arrest' - while it could be clearly seen on the CCTV that he never did that , as well as for 'possession of an unlicensed firearm.' And while he was being handcuffed, the same man in civilian clothes kitcked him again.

His friend Grobler, who had undergone back-surgery three weeks earlier, said he told the cops about this fact and that he was unable to lie down - they forced him to the ground anyway.

Potgieter was taken to the Pretoria Moot police station, were he was kept in the police-cells until Tuesday, when he was granted bail of R2,000 at the Pretoria magistrate's court. It's not known exactly what he is going to be charged for: the CCTV-footage clearly showed that he did not resist arrest and moreover, he can prove that is gun is a legally-registered weapon. After his ordeal, Potgieter on Friday-afternoon was taken to hospital for an examination, as he had blood in his urine and was throwing up. The police refused to accept his complaint, refused to investigate his allegations that he was assaulted during his arrest, said Potgieter. SAPF colonel Neville Malila approached for comment by Beeld, professed to be ‘shocked and angry,’ acclaimed that ‘this were not the actions of the average police officer,’ and added that such incidents would be ‘would be investigated internally.”

http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Polisie-rand-man-aan-20110501

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