Update: Picking a Battle
Last year Terence Pillay brought us the story of Andrew Guy whose son, Sam was assaulted at his school by another child’s parent. Today he follows up on the story.
Listen to the full story below, or read the details beneath the podcast:
The story goes...
In May 2016 Andrew Guy, a father of a 13-year-olf boy got a call from his son’s school asking him to come and fetch his child who had just been assaulted. Racing to the school, Andrew found that it wasn’t an altercation with another child at the school but a parent.
Read: Picking a Battle
Andrew’s child says that he and a friend had a disagreement with a peer who then reported the matter to her father who was waiting in the school’s parking lot. Instead of approaching the principal of the school to find out what the disagreement was all about, the child’s father grabbed Andrew’s child by his neck dragging him along the ground and punched him on his face several times.
Andrew says that teachers who witnessed this called for the offender to stop but he swore at them, got into his car and drove away.
Andrew took his son to the doctor for treatment and then laid a charge of assault at the Malvern Police Station.
At the time, Captain Nqobile Gwala from SAPS said the matter was an ongoing investigation and denied that SAPS were dragging their heels on the matter. She confirmed that the suspect was known to the police but said an arrest could only be made once the investigation was done.
Well, that was seven months ago. I sent Captain Gwala a list of questions this week and got back this response:
“A case of assault common is still being investigated by Malvern SAPS. The suspect’s whereabouts are unknown and it is suspected that he has since fled to Gauteng after the incident. He is still being actively sought by the police. The complainants were informed of developments with regards to the case by the investigating officer and they were also requested to contact the investigating officer should they hear anything about the suspect’s whereabouts. No one has informed police that the suspect is back and picking up his child from school. Now that you have informed us that the suspect is back, the investigating officer will follow up on your information.” - Captain Nqobile Gwala
I don’t accept this. Why has the investigating officer not pursued this more vigorously? They are aware that it involved an assault on a minor child on school grounds. What is the department of education pursuing this more vigorously?
They now say they will follow up on the lead that I’ve given them. I will be keeping a close eye on this story.
In May 2016 Andrew Guy, a father of a 13-year-olf boy got a call from his son’s school asking him to come and fetch his child who had just been assaulted. Racing to the school, Andrew found that it wasn’t an altercation with another child at the school but a parent.
Read: Picking a Battle
Andrew’s child says that he and a friend had a disagreement with a peer who then reported the matter to her father who was waiting in the school’s parking lot. Instead of approaching the principal of the school to find out what the disagreement was all about, the child’s father grabbed Andrew’s child by his neck dragging him along the ground and punched him on his face several times.
Andrew says that teachers who witnessed this called for the offender to stop but he swore at them, got into his car and drove away.
Andrew took his son to the doctor for treatment and then laid a charge of assault at the Malvern Police Station.
At the time, Captain Nqobile Gwala from SAPS said the matter was an ongoing investigation and denied that SAPS were dragging their heels on the matter. She confirmed that the suspect was known to the police but said an arrest could only be made once the investigation was done.
Well, that was seven months ago. I sent Captain Gwala a list of questions this week and got back this response:
“A case of assault common is still being investigated by Malvern SAPS. The suspect’s whereabouts are unknown and it is suspected that he has since fled to Gauteng after the incident. He is still being actively sought by the police. The complainants were informed of developments with regards to the case by the investigating officer and they were also requested to contact the investigating officer should they hear anything about the suspect’s whereabouts. No one has informed police that the suspect is back and picking up his child from school. Now that you have informed us that the suspect is back, the investigating officer will follow up on your information.” - Captain Nqobile Gwala
I don’t accept this. Why has the investigating officer not pursued this more vigorously? They are aware that it involved an assault on a minor child on school grounds. What is the department of education pursuing this more vigorously?
They now say they will follow up on the lead that I’ve given them. I will be keeping a close eye on this story.
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