More arrests on the cards following attack on cleaner
Initial investigating officer in the case nabbed
OLICE are investigating an additional case of assault against three men – one a UCT student – charged for the attempted murder of Claremont cleaner Delia Adonis, who was beaten and racially assaulted in front of her teenage son.
As Aaron Mack, 20, Chad de Matos, 19, and Mitchell Turner, 20, prepared for their second appearance today in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court, two others, believed to be in East London, are being sought.
There have been a number of developments in the Adonis case since their first appearance on Tuesday:
Police have confirmed that they’re investigating another case of assault against the men on the same night that Adonis, 52, was attacked.
PYesterday, police arrested a Claremont police constable, 27, from the detective unit in Eerste River. He will appear on charges of suppressing evidence, corruption and defeating the ends of justice.
The family of the man who Adonis helped have hailed her as a heroine.
The court heard on Tuesday that Adonis, a Manenberg mother-of-six who works as a cleaner at the mall, witnessed five men leave Tiger Tiger nightclub inside the shopping centre and beat up another patron, Duncan Hendry, 21, in Main Road on October 17.
After helping Hendry by alerting law enforcement officers, Adonis was attacked, allegedly by the same five young men.
Mack, from Knysna, and De Matos and Turner, from East London, have been charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and crimen injuria for the attack on Adonis.
Two other men linked to the assault are believed to have returned to their homes in East London and are being sought by the police.
The SAPS is investigating whether the same five attacked Hendry on October 17.
Hendry declined to speak to The Star’s sister newspaper, the Cape Times, yesterday, but his brother Warwick, said: “My brother was saved by Delia Adonis after he was attacked, knocked to the ground, and kicked and punched repeatedly in the face – incidentally, after he had stepped in to defend a friend of his. She might well have saved his life. I think this act of courage and compassion needs to be highlighted… She did what few people seem willing to do these days – she stuck her neck out for a complete stranger. I have not met her but would like to thank her.”
Police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said of the assault on Hendry: “A case of assault was registered for investigation at Claremont police station.”
A Claremont police detective, the initial investigating office in Adonis’s case, was arrested yesterday.
“The member allegedly submitted a sworn statement to withdraw the case when the victim had no intention of doing so,” Van Wyk said.
“The member received an undisclosed amount of cash from the suspects to cover the victim’s medical costs, but allegedly never handed the money over.”