For the past month a GPNW member has been the target of verbal abuse and physical harassment from a person not known to her.
The individual would bang on her gate and shout abuse such as “I know who you are. You know why I’m here. I’m going to get you.” as well as other utterances in a language not know to her.
After the individual threw a rock at her home that damaged her security shutters she reached out to the GPNW. We contacted SAPS and Avenue Response to ask that they increase their surveillance of her area.
While the behaviour of the individual suggested that he was suffering from mental health issues, she was concerned that it might be related to a case of assault she had opened last year; the suspect in that case was convicted and sentenced in April this year.
On Monday evening the individual attacked her outside the Sea Point Library. Fortunately she was able to escape to Clicks and flag down a Law Enforcement patrol, but the perpetrator has fled the scene.
She opened a case at SAPS Sea Point the next morning and reached out to the GPNW for advice. We contacted Lt. Colonel Verster and Colonel Engelbrecht to let them know that this was not a random crime and asked that they ensure that the detectives act with urgency, and that SAPS step up patrols in the area until the suspect was in custody.
The following day SAPS asked the victim to come to the station to identify an individual detained in connection with the attack.
The individual detained was not the assailant, but she was able to identify another person who had been arrested on a charge of burglary as her assailant.
Thank you to SAPS for their prompt action and thank you Lt. Colonel Verster for taking a personal interest in the case!