Cops accused of turning blind eye to killings in Pretoria community
· Citizen
A Pretoria councillor has opened up about horrible crime scenes, robberies and forgotten people he sees on the streets of the community he serves.
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The DA’s Leon Kruyshaar says no one cares about the “nobodies”, but he does.
Communities facing a wave of violent crime
His ward includes Capital Park, Claremont, Daspoort, Hermanstad, Pretoria Gardens and the Gamorrah informal settlement.
“The past few months, we have had a couple of murders and rapes, which were swept under the carpet,” he said.
“In December, we found a man’s body in the stream, it was covered up as a drowning, but the post-mortem indicated he was murdered before being dumped in the stream.”
Search for a missing elderly couple
On Monday, Kruyshaar received a voice note on a WhatsApp group asking for information about an elderly couple who had been missing for a few weeks.
They were living in a house closest to the Green Containers informal settlement in Plaas Street, Kruyshaar went to the property with community forum members to see if they could find the couple.
“It seemed nobody was interested in finding the couple. Police didn’t pitch. Apparently, police went to the house the previous day but didn’t want to go in or trespass.”
Kruyshaar managed to get a Tshwane Metro Police Department officer to help search the property.
“We peeked through a window and saw a foot. When the officer entered the house, he found the couple dead on a bed. They had apparently been dead for over a week,” he added.
Kruyshaar said there were cats in the house that had started eating the couple’s flesh.
“Their fingers were missing, and the woman’s face. Her fingers and rings were lying on the floor.”
Concern over lack of interest in investigations
Kruyshaar said there was very little interest in the case and doubted anything would come from an investigation.
“About two months ago, a woman was abducted in Booysens and dragged to a field where she was raped and attacked with a panga. She miraculously survived.
“A week later, homeless people living under a bridge called Proshield Security after they saw a Polo stop on top of the bridge and throw a woman over. The security company found the woman’s body. Police didn’t bother to show. She was raped and attacked with a panga,” he added.
Kruyshaar added an elderly man was stabbed to death in a robbery in a street in broad daylight.
“One stab in the heart, and he was dead on the scene.”
He said what was concerning is most of the crimes were occurring in the same vicinity.
The police were yet to comment.