Chatty attack may have been avoided

AS Child Protection Week was coming to an end, a young child and her grandmother were attacked in their home in Chatty.

However, the brutality did not end there as residents then assaulted the man they suspected of being the attacker, hitting him with bricks and stones to the extent that he also was hospitalised.

Residents claim he is a tik-using drug dealer who had broken into two other houses in the street in the space of one year, murdering one resident and assaulting another.

The grandmother, Tershia Botha, yesterday died from her injuries, bringing the death toll to two.

We ask today how can one horrific attack, far less two, occur without police prioritising their investigation?

Particularly if, as residents say, the killer’s identity is known?

After all, a third gruesome attack in one street is unlikely to be a random act of violence.

We can only imagine the outcry if two attacks happened in a suburb like Mill Park or Summerstrand, but when it happens on the “other side” of the N2 in a suburb like Chatty 12 – just next door to the violence-riven Booysen Park – the community’s voice is almost inaudible.

It certainly has not led to swift police action, a conviction in court and subsequent jail term for the criminal.

If the information was valid and the crimes were committed by the same assailant, then the police should have been able to step in, investigate and possibly make an arrest several months ago.

Doing their job properly might have meant the attack on the Botha family could have been avoided.

On the other hand, if the targeted man is innocent then the picture changes.

Obviously – and we have been here before – vigilante action must never be condoned. However, we can understand it because Chatty has every right to be angry.

The problem is that this community obviously has no faith the police force will protect it.

The family also has accused the police of being quicker to assist the targeted man than the wounded woman and grandchild.

As stated yesterday, we need to eradicate these types of predators from the community. However, this unfortunately leads to the situation where if the police are not seen to be protectors of the community, vigilantes will step into that role.