Bust for drugs after choking woman video goes viral
Son of wealthy EL business family arrested in Johannesburg
The son of a wealthy East London family, Andrew Turnbull, was arrested in Johannesburg on Tuesday and charged with possession of drugs.
The arrest follows the publication on social media earlier this week of a video showing the middle-aged man, tattooed and with his hair styled into a blonde Mohican, holding a woman in a choke hold, and tossing her aside as the voice of the person filming the video is heard saying: “Andrew, please calm down”.
The assault is believed to have happened on Friday August 10, and the video uploaded on Sunday.
The former East London woman who appears to have been assaulted in the video on Thursday submitted an affidavit, which the Daily Dispatch has seen, to Johannesburg police alleging multiple incidents of serious abuse at the hands of Turnbull.
By time of print the Daily Dispatch was unable to verify whether police had acted on the affidavit. According to SAPS spokesperson Kay Makhubele, Turnbull was arrested in Gauteng on Tuesday and charged with possession of drugs at the Douglasdale police station. He appeared for bail on Thursday but, according to a number of reports which remain unconfirmed by police at the time of going to print, he did not get bail.
His mother, Martha Turnbull, referred the Daily Dispatch to Turnbull’s lawyer Henri van Breda for comment and furthers details of his arrest and the video. Van Breda claimed: “The matter is sub judice”.
A video of Turnbull being arrested in Johannesburg shows him being walked out of his residence by SAPS officials, handcuffed and placed into the back of a flying squad vehicle. Another woman formerly associated with Turnbull also opened a case against him alleging rape, grievous bodily harm and the pointing of a firearm in 2017.
But the woman’s father told the Dispatch the director of public prosecutions (DPP) had notified them last month that they had declined to prosecute due to conflicting witness statements. He said it was for this reason that he and his daughter had been trying, with no success so far, to attain the docket in order to revitalise the investigation.
Police spokeswoman Colonel Sibongile Soci confirmed to the Dispatch that a case had been opened against Turnbull in this regard but that the DPP in Grahamstown had declined to prosecute after the docket had been transferred there by the family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit.
The Daily Dispatch was sent multiple telephone recordings alleged to be between Turnbull and the family and friends of one of his alleged victims. In these recordings not only does a man who responds to the name Andrew make threats to friends and family of the alleged victim, but also claims to be connected to well-known characters in the South African criminal underworld including Rashied Staggie, former leader of the Hard Livings gang.