A man was beaten to death after allegedly trying to break into a policeman’s car in Bellville South.
The deceased was caught red-handed at about 1.45am in William Taylor Street on Friday morning.
According to police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk, the officer tried to make an arrest.
He reports: “The incident happened on Friday at about 1:45am at a premises in William Taylor Street, Bellville South.
“According to reports the complainant heard a noise outside and went to check. He found a male person trying to break into his vehicle.
“He confronted the person and tried to arrest him. An attempted theft out of motor vehicle and assault case was opened at Bellville South SAPS for investigation.
“The members got a complaint of an attempted theft out of motor vehicle and assault at the mentioned address.
“When attending to the complaint they found a male person seriously assaulted.
“The complainant pointed out the assaulted person as the one that tried to break into the vehicle.
“He was treated on the scene by medical personnel and taken to a nearby hospital for further medical treatment where he later died due to injuries sustained. Investigations continue with no arrest as yet.”
Van Wyk says after a full investigation, the case will be sent to the Department of Public Prosecution for a decision to prosecute the officer or not.
Bellville South Community Policing Forum David Cecil tells the Daily Voice housebreaking is just one of many problems they are facing.
He says: “There are houses which have been broken into 11 times in one week.
“There is an escalation in this type of crime, they change their modus operandi and target different areas at different times.
“Multiple houses are targeted in a week. Unfortunately this one is different because someone died, but we can’t confirm what he died of, we don’t know if it was from the attack.
“The problem is the limited SAPS resources, no police visibility. This is why we sat down with ADT to come up with a solution to assist the community, this is because of the lack of police resources.
“Speaking with ADT doesn’t mean people won’t pay but we think we need extra security for the area, which is a priority.
“The criminals here don’t sleep, no one can comprehend how busy they are. We have spoken to the police to focus on Bellville South, we need intervention.”
Cecil says they’ve also been faced with a spate of murders.