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20090611

Thirty learner-cops assault Afrikaner pensioner; dad fights farm-attackers with bare hands…

 

2009-06-10 Hans Grib, 66, Claremont Pretoria, attacked by some 30  trainee-constables near Zandfontein cemetery

Groups of learner-constables were jogging seven abreast on the road when the old-age pensioner tried to pass them in his car… 

Jun 10 2009 E-mail story to a friend -- Beeld journalist Hilda Fourie reports that Pretoria old-age pensioner  Hans Grib, 66, pictured left, was allegedly assaulted like this by at least thirty young trainee-police constables who had apparently been blocking the road by jogging seven-abreast near the Zandfontein cemetery on Tuesday. Grib has filed charges of assault and a learner-constable has lodged a counter-charge of reckless driving against the old man. The only person who got injured was the lone old-age pensioner who was allegedly assaulted by this huge group of learner-policemen. Apparently they had been jogging seven-abreast and thus blocking access to the road while the pensioner was trying to pass them. he told journalist Fourie. Grib had honked his horn repeatedly at the joggers, trying to get them to move out of the way, Fourie reports.  When they finally did move out of the way, and he was passing them, one of the learner-constables had allegedly stepped out against his car which was passing them very slowly. Apparently his car grazed the young jogger, making him fall.  “I heard a sound, and when I looked in my rear view mirror, he was lying on the road.’ Grib stopped the car and ran back to the man, but when he got there the large group of jogging constables all started hitting and kicking the old man when he was lying on the road. “They beat me and when I fell down, they kicked me all over my body.” He lost consciousness for a while he said – but when he came to, he was still being kicked. Eventually one of the police officers who was jogging along with the group of learner-constables, intervened and told them to stop assaulting and kicking the Afrikaner pensioner. The young man Grib had apparently hit with his car, reportedly showed no injuries at all. A counter-charge has also been lodged against Mr Grib for ‘reckless driving’. http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2528468,00.html

2009-06-10 Chris Maré, 44, fights off farm attackers with bare hands, saves family

Maree Chris hospital bed fought robbers with bare hands to save family June102009Beeld June 10, 2009. Beeld journalist Fanie van Rooyen reports from Pretoria that farmer Chris Mare of Brits is recovering in hospital after fighting off a gang of armed robbers with his bare hands – and thus giving daughters Suné and Nicolene, wife Hildegard and son CP the chance to flee from the armed farm attackers.

E-mail story to a friend Picture:  Leon Botha, Beeld.

Click here to find out more!Mrs Hildegard Maré of a farm near Brits north of Pretoria said her husband is the hero of her family.  Even though he was shot once in the right hand and twice in his lower torso, he fought like a lion to give his family a chance to flee. “My heavenly Father stopped them from hurting my family and from shooting me dead,’ he told journalist Fanie van Rooyen from his bed in the Pretoria Urological Hospital. His wife and children, Nicolene (20), Suné (16), and son  CP (13), are ‘miraculously unharmed after the attack on their farm Rooikoppies near Brits. The family was seated around the kitchen table at 7pm on Tuesday-evening and they were just starting dinner when an armed group of men kicked open the back door and started shooting. “It was like one movement, they kicked open the door and started firing.’ Mr Maré jumped up and tried to grab the nearest attacker’s gun. “I wanted to give my wife and children the chance to flee. That’s when I was shot in the right hand,’ he said – which they did, running from the front door as fast as their legs could carry them. “My man fought back tremendously and this gave us our chance to get out,’ she said. Suné icrawled in behind a bush in the dark, while Mrs Mare and her daughter Nicolene climbed over a wire fence to reach one of the farm worker’s cottages. She also realised to her horror that her young son CP was still in the house. Mrs Mare raised the emergency alarm, phoned the armed reaction unit, and rushed back to the homestead to go and help her husband and young son. “it sounded like a war, it was horrible,’ she said. “When I got near the house, Chris came stumbling out, bleeding terribly.’ He initially feared that CP may have been shot dead, but the youngster hid  behind the freezer. The attackers fled when they heard the alarm. Mr  Maré was first treated at the Brits-Medi-Clinic-hospital and then was transferred to the Pretoria Urological Hospital. Doctors said he’s ‘out of danger’. The attackers fled with a TV-set, three cellphones and two handbags. http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2528491,00.html

Springs residents fight back: Sick of crime-epidemic in Petersfield

Wyk Pieter van 14 Springs robbed at gunpoint dog poisoned Jun 11 2009 E-mail story to a friend

Pieter van Wyk (14), right, of Petersfield in Springs, told Beeld journalist/photographer Gloria Edwards that the residents in their suburb are sick and tired of the crime-epidemic. Local cops confirm that ‘criminals are targetting Petersfield’ and says they are putting together a task force to address the problem. Pieter, a Grade Six pupil at the local Huguenot Afrikaans High School, got robbed at gun-point of his cellphone on Tuesday while walking to school. “A white car stopped behind me, a man got out, pushed his gun right up against my head and said he would shoot me if I didn’t hand over my cellphone, so I did and the men chased off in their car’.  His dad Pieter senior said South Africans just shouldn’t just have to accept the ‘lowest common-denominator’ any more…

And neighbour Annatjie Fourie – her husband Gerhard is a police officer – agrees with him that something needs to be done to combat the high crime rate in Petersfield. She had to fire off several shots with her shotgun to chase off a group of men which were breaking into their home on Friday-night while she was home alone. The couple earlier this year had two of their family dogs poisoned by criminals, and had suffered several earlier break-ins too. And they have just about had enough, she said. It’s time to fight back.

Petersfield ‘a target for criminals’ says local cop:

Van Wyk senior and Mrs Fourie have now decided to mobilise the Springs suburb to fight back against these criminals. Mrs Fourie, who handles firearms pretty well she says, now wants to set up a gun-training course for the neighbourhood women, and the Van Wyk father and son have also decided that they were going to start patrolling their suburb. Mrs Fourie said a group of armed men had broken into her house Friday. “Fortunately I know about handling firearms. I grabbed our shotgun, and shot back when they shot at me. My shots hit the wall and they fled empty-handed, they probably hadn’t expected a woman to shoot back’. Afterwards, she discovered that her German Shephard was dead – poisoned.  Police captain  Johannes Ramphora of Springs confirmed that Petersfield was ‘a “target for criminals’. He wouldn’t or couldn’t howeverreveal the exact number of recent ‘incidents’,  but said the police were ‘putting ing together a task force from the crime-prevention and intelligence units to handle the problem.’ http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2528536,00.html The latest available crime statistics are from 2007: http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2008/_provinces/gauteng/pdf/springs.pdf