An evening meant for enjoyment transformed into a nightmarish experience for a 38-year-old man from Newcastle. He was assaulted by a group of seven, who then callously abandoned him to die amidst the bushes by the roadside.
Sharing the distressing details, the victim, who chose to stay unnamed, disclosed that he was at a bar in Lennoxton, Newcastle with friends on Friday, 30 March 2024.
“During the evening, I got into a verbal altercation with a guy at the bar, and before it escalated, I decided to leave and take a walk home,” he recounted.
However, upon reaching the intersection of Link and Osmond Road, the situation took a dark turn. Despite the victim’s efforts to avoid physical confrontation, the individual from the bar and his companions decided to pursue him. “While I was walking, the guy and his friends pulled up with two vehicles, a bakkie and a VW Polo, and attacked me,” the visibly bruised victim recounted.
Overwhelmed by his seven assailants, comprising five men and two women, the victim survived a relentless onslaught, enduring blows from an array of weapons, including a hockey stick repeatedly striking his defenceless head and body. He was also stabbed during the process.
After rendering the victim unconscious through their savage assault, the assailants callously abandoned him and fled the scene, leaving him for dead in a nearby bush. “They just dumped him and left him to die. A police officer on his way to another crime in the early hours of the morning drove past where my son was attacked, saw him lying there and assisted,” expressed the victim’s horrified mother.
Furthermore, the man’s family was contacted after the police officer found him.
They immediately rushed to the scene, with his mother stating that they then rushed him to the hospital after the ambulance took too long to respond. He remained unconscious throughout the ordeal, waking up briefly in the bushes before passing out again and then only regaining consciousness upon reaching the hospital.
“My son looked bad, and I honestly thought that I was going to have to hold his funeral. But God is good, and he pulled through,” expressed the distraught mother.
The brutality of the attack rendered the victim almost unrecognizable, with his face significantly swollen, open wounds on the back of his head, and a CT scan unveiling signs of minor bleeding in the brain.
As the victim recuperates from the traumatic incident, Newcastle SAPS confirmed the attack and reported the arrest of four individuals thus far. Newcastle SAPS spokesperson, Lizzy Arumugam, affirmed, “Further police investigations into the matter are currently underway.”
In a startling development, it was alleged by an official police source that one of the men involved in the assault was a Constable from the Newcastle SAPS garage.
While Arumugam refrained from confirming this detail, she assured that the investigating officers would leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of justice. The police source added this prompted the involvement of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
Additionally, one of the women involved was an ex-police officer’s daughter. “Upon hearing about her imminent arrest, she apparently had a panic/stress attack and was admitted to hospital,” revealed the police source.
As investigations progress, what are your thoughts on the above? Share your views in the comment section below.
Surprise…… another corrupt cop …. attempted murder and then has a panic attack… now she’s in hospital… what a joke of a system in newcastle…
Absolutely horrendous and heartless. Hope they will all be imprisoned with the harshest sentencing, as a lesson to other cowards. No one is above the law. No one.
So when the lady was out there almost killing someone’s child there was no panic/stress attack… why when there’s an arrest then all of a sudden she’s panicking..
I hope the justice system gives them a solid sentence
So SAPS is charging 1 guy and released the others? Maybe all don’t deserve the same sanction but all deserve jail time for being an accomplice! It’s time an example is set! If IFP wants to run Newcastle then now’s your time to show the people of Newcastle that rule breakers will pay for their crimes. This wasn’t a case of assault that could be let go, this was attempted murder!
This is an example of selective justice by the local SAPS once again. Countless people are assaulted weekly at or around pubs but no such action is taken by law enforcement. It is strange that in this case, they are victimising an innocent your girl and treating her as a criminal. Why in this case only ? It seems like enemies of the ex Cop are seeking to get revenge on him, using his family and this case. Read between the lines.
Innocent? Being part of a group of 7 that almost killed a person is innocent?
We need to stand together and be more observant around us don’t go out at night unless you have to watch yourself and around you when you come home get to know your neighbour’s watch each other’s houses for them if they are away like phoning their security company or neighborhood watch don’t go out yourself we are not safe anywhere even when going to the shops please talk to your children teach them please
A police force’s effectivemess is not measured by the number of officers against the population total, their competency level or the number of criminals arrested and prosecuted, but by the degree in which it succeeds in deterring crime and persuading people not to break the law.
The Government, the NPA and the Minister of police seems oblivious of this.
Regrettably Newcastle is endemic with corrupt and complicit police and attorneys that operate a cabal including corrupt court officials. It is time for SIU and the Anti Corrupt Task Force to show their teeth. The matter should be reported to the Provincial Commissioner of Police and the DG in the national office of the Ministry of Justice and unethical attorneys should be reported to the LPC.
Stand to be counted. Take action now!
Agreed