Man saved from being necklaced by irate mob
Published: September 8, 2003
Police have rescued a man from an angry mob who were about to necklace him.
The police were called in after the mob attacked the man, who had allegedly broken into a home in Vosloorus on the East Rand yesterday.
When the police arrived, he already had the tyre around his neck and the mob were beating him up, eyewitness Thabang Moqobai (23) said.
The man was apparently seen by residents early yesterday breaking into one of their neighbour’s houses. The alarm was raised and other residents were woken up and called to join in the search for the alleged burglar.
“When I arrived at the scene some community members had dragged him out of the house and were asking him questions.
They then tied him up and began to beat him,” Moqobai said.
East Rand police spokesperson Zithini Dlamini said that when police arrived at the scene, the suspect was already badly assaulted and the officers had to convince the mob not to set fire to him.
Once the crowd had handed over the man to the police, he was taken to a local hospital.
Residents said they caught the suspect trying to carry some of the stolen goods over a fence. Realising that the neighbours were after him, he apparently ran into the house and hid in the ceiling, were he was found. Some of the goods included a TV, radio, clothes and groceries, the residents said.
Dlamini said the suspect had been charged with housebreaking and malicious damage to property. He also faced a second charge relating to the damage to the roof.
Once he was discharged, he would appear in the Vosloorus Magistrate’s Court. He was expected to appear today.
Dlamini condemned the attack on the suspect, saying the alleged burglar’s actions didn’t justify the residents’ response.
A decision on whether the police would press charges against members of the mob for assaulting the burglar was yet to be made.
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