“You killed him, now eat him or bury him,” relatives of the dead man screamed at cops.
SOMEONE IS LYING about what happened behind the closed doors of a house in the Vaal.
What is known is that a man is dead, his body draped over the bonnet of a police van by enraged family members.
YOU KILLED HIM, NOW EAT HIM OR BURY HIM, THEY TOLD THE COPS.
Daily Sun understands cops got a tip off about a house where drugs were being sold in Vanderbijlpark, in the Vaal, south of Joburg and decided to raid the house.
On arrival, the cops allegedly stormed the house and woke everyone up, both in the house and in the rooms outside.
They were seen entering the house and later when they came out, a dead man was found inside, believed to have been suffocated with a plastic bag over his head.
A tenant who lives in a back room in the yard said they were also searched and questioned.
“Cops didn’t find drugs or anything illegal on any of us,” said a resident.
According to another resident who claims he was an eyewitness, the cops were with the man in the house.
The man allegedly refused to admit that he sold drugs, so cops threatened him.
The witness said the four cops covered his head with plastic and he suffocated to death. Cops, however, tell a different story.
They claim the man was already dead when they went into the house.
A man living in the yard said he heard dogs barking and woke up.
“When I got outside I found many cops in the yard. I was put against the wall and searched.
“When the cops heard me speaking Sotho they let me to go.”
He said when he went into the house he found his neighbour being beaten by the cops.
“They had plastic over his head. I asked them to stop. They told me to leave and said the man would tell the truth.” The witness said he stood outside for a minute and when the cops left the house, he went back inside. “I found him dead,” he claimed.
The dead man’s family say they have no doubt the cops killed him by suffocating him during their interrogation.
After the dead man’s family was called, they erupted in an anguished rage and took the body out to the yard. There they placed it on the bonnet of the cop van.
“You killed him, now eat him or bury him,” relatives of the dead man screamed at cops.
In a video captured by witnesses, the dead man’s relatives and friends can be seen venting their anger at cops who look nervous and try to cover each other.
Family members and friends at the scene were very emotional and wept next to the man’s corpse as it lay on top of the cop van.
Gauteng police spokesman Captain Kay Makhubele said the man was found dead by their cops.
“At this state we will have to wait for the outcome of the post mortem to determine the cause of death.
“There were no visible injuries on the deceased,” he said.
He said they had heard the allegations that the man was killed.
“We registered a murder docket after allegations that he was killed were brought to our attention.”
Makhubele said attempted murder and assault cases were opened after officers on the scene were attacked. “Six of our officers were injured.”
No suspects have been arrested yet.
