Arrested student to complain to IPID

2012-06-19 20:52

Johannesburg - A student who claims to have been wrongfully arrested at the weekend will lodge a complaint with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), he said on Monday.

The Star newspaper reported that Jason Modisenyane, 20, was released without appearing in court on Monday after being arrested following a shoot-out and robbery at a jewellery store at Randridge Mall, in Johannesburg, on Saturday.

Investigators reportedly found he had nothing to do with the robbery, in which four people were wounded.

He told the newspaper that the police kicked and hit him while arresting him.

Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini refused to comment on the allegations.

"I don't know. I don't know... All I know is that the prosecutor refused to prosecute," he said.

Modisenyane said he had tried to open an assault case against the police officers.

Tried to open assault case

"We tried to open an assault case at the Fairland police station, but the constable we spoke to there refused to speak to us in English," he said.

Modisenyane said he was accompanied by Trevour Zeegers, the owner of the home where his mother works, who could not understand the SePedi-speaking constable.

Zeegers said the constable was "very arrogant" and they eventually left the police station without being helped.

IPID spokesperson Moses Dlamini said it had not yet received the complaint.

Meanwhile, a police officer who was wounded in the shoot-out was back at work on Tuesday.

Warrant Officer Karen Jacobs said Constable Octavia Mashele had a grazed hand and a dislocated shoulder.

Four of the nine men arrested appeared in the Randburg Magistrate's Court on Monday. The case was postponed to Friday.

- SAPA