Mom kept 15hrs in dirty cell
2008-03-07 08:06
Cape Town - A senior member of the nursing staff of a private hospital in Cape Town alleges she was forced off the road by a high-ranking traffic official, manhandled in front of her children and held in a dirty cell for 15 hours on Sunday.
Sister Ronel Roux, the single mom of a 12-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy who is diabetic, was very emotional on Thursday when she explained how the shocking experience had changed their lives for ever.
Originally from Upington, Roux has been living in Paarl for the past three months after accepting a job in the area.
It would've been her second day at work on Sunday.
Roux was to see a lawyer on Friday to decide what legal steps to take.
She later learnt that the traffic official was Henri Swift, the head of traffic in Milnerton. He is on leave until Monday and could not be reached for comment.
She alone had to see to 40 patients in a ward on Sunday and took her children along to spend the day in the Tygervalley Shopping Centre.
They left Paarl at 05:45.
About 10km before Tygervalley a vehicle with blinding lights appeared behind them on the N1.
She indicated to him that he should overtake.
The vehicle then overtook them and three times turned in just in front of her car.
The car's lock broke
The third time the blue lights went on and she was forced off the road.
Roux then realised in was a traffic official.
He wanted to know why she had not moved out of the fast lane when he was behind her.
Her key was yanked out "aggressively" when she refused to hand over her licence to the official.
The lock broke and the vehicle couldn't be started again.
Swift apparently told her that "she would do as he told her" when she told him about the patients waiting for her.
In front of her shocked children, Roux's hands were forced behind her back, "my neck was pushed down on the hood and my legs were spread apart".
Three more police vans showed up.
Swift also apparently took photos of the hysterical Roux on his cell phone.
She was pushed into the back of a police van and her kids were put in the front.
She phoned a colleague who fetched the children from the Bellville police station.
She was charged with assault and reckless driving at the police station and locked up in a cell with four other people for 15 hours.
At about 22:00 she was released on a warning.
'My body is covered in bruises'
The next day the court postponed her case until March 8.
She said on Thursday that her traumatised kids had to see a psychologist.
"He turned our peaceful Sunday into a living hell. "My body is covered in bruises. My whole life has been turned upside down.
"I haven't even been permanently appointed yet and now I have to attend a disciplinary hearing over my patients."
In the meantime Kelvyn Visser, assistant head of Cape traffic services and Swift's immediate superior said that Roux could lay a charge at the traffic head or at the municipality.
Visser said he could only then comment.
Police spokesperson Elliot Sinyangana said Roux had been held for such a long time because the police station's computer system had been down and her docket could not be processed.