Man beaten by Cape cops cries as he tells of ordeal
A SALT River man, Emeka Eneh, wept yesterday as he told how Cape Town police officers beat him and bundled him into a police van — only to dump him later without opening a case.
He said the police, realising the backlash that could follow as a result of the incident being captured on a cellphone camera, later handed him R40 to catch a taxi home and “forget” about the incident.
Eneh, 28, laid an assault complaint at the Cape Town Central police station yesterday. Police spokesman Colonel Thembinkosi Kinana said two officers had been arrested and would appear in court tomorrow.
A video of the attack in the city centre on Thursday was filmed by an observer. It shows a policeman removing Eneh’s underwear, in full view of bystanders, and kicking him.
The other policeman is seen punching him several times.
The rest of his clothing had been removed by security personnel from a nightclub following an earlier altercation.
Eneh said he had had a fight with the owner of a nightclub on Thursday. The club owner called the police, and when they arrived they simply started their attack on him, he said.
“When I saw them [the police] I was relieved, thinking they were going to bring peace between us. But, to my surprise, they handcuffed me and took part in the beating. They even took off my underwear — the last item of clothing I had on my body.”
Eneh said after he was forced into a police vehicle naked, the policemen drove around with him and later took him to a welding shop to remove the handcuffs because they had lost the keys. They then drove him to a friend’s place so he could get clothes, and one of the policemen handed him R40 to make his way home.