This alleged poacher fears losing sight in his eye after a cop allegedly shot a rubber bullet in his face at close range.
Roan Dreyer, 24, of Hawston says he was swimming towards the Fisheries official standing on the rocks on Dyer Island when shots rang out.
“I put up my hands but he shot straight at me even though I didn’t pose a danger to him,” Roan says.
He claims he was also hit against the shoulder with the butt of the shotgun and kicked in the ribs.
“Later Gansbaai cops took me to hospital where they gave me painkillers and covered my eye,” says Roan.
He was then thrown back in a cell with three others who appeared with him in the Bredasdorp Magistrates’ Court last week on charges of diving in a restricted area.
Roan opened a case at Hermanus SAPS, but he fears he might lose the sight in his right eye.
“If they shot a few millimetres up it would have been straight in my eye. I still can’t see anything through my eye,” says Roan.
A medical report states that Roan suffered “retinal detachment”.
Police spokesperson Constable Jonathan Filander says a case of attempted murder is being investigated against the official.
He says: “An attempted murder case is being investigated after the complainant was allegedly shot with a rubber bullet in the face on 12 June whilst diving in a restricted area near Dyer Island.”
He says the matter has been transferred to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
Roan and three others appeared in court on a charge of diving in a restricted area.
“Diving equipment were seized during the arrest,” Filander says.