God Trevor. What a disturbing and distressing account. We stayed away from the festival due to the perception that it was the same story - a giant multi-day festival that would attract plenty of people wanting to stir up s%^t and get wasted; unlike the old 1 day festival.
Whether fair or not (and probably not, I'll grant) I can't help but associate this incident with the festival - as I'm sure many others will. Will that not mean that more good people will stay away from it, and more bad people will see it as their playground? More to the point it leaves me feeling very depressed about our police. A story like this makes me think that they're broken as a force. I don't blame our Woodstock officers for that. They are responding to the training and example they've been given. And they're naturally warm and helpful human beings from 80% of my experience with them. But this scene you paint, makes me think they've been given all the wrong protocols and training. I was already starting to hear from acquaintances - some even who live in townships with huge crime rates far in excess of Observatory's - that they perceive Obs as a dangerous place. I don't quite know what I want to say except that this is seriously depressing stuff. Alan On Dec 6, 1:08 pm, Trevor Hughes <t...@thewildfig.co.za> wrote: > I have read various online reports, twitter reports, newspaper reports > (Cape Times, Voice, Argus) and with the exception of the typical Voice > headline and pictures, found the reporting to be objective and fair. > This is based on my own witnessing of the event shortly after the > stabbing took place. > > One thing that appalled me and has not been reported on was the > complete disarray that the members of the SAP were in. Once would > thing a stabbing woudl be a fairly routine matter for them. > > When I arrived on the scene shortly after the incident, Andrew was > still alive - dying but alive. I saw not one policeman render > assistance as he was bleeding out. > > They were running arround like headless chickens - soulless headless > chickens not displaying an ounce of humanity to the dying victim. > > Finally I saw a lady render some assistance - too late to make a > difference. Whether prompt first aid assistance from the SAPS (or > anyone) would have made a difference to the outcome I cannot say, but > that it did not happen was extemely sad. > > Hilton Malila had only a comment to make about the SAP could not > render medical assistance as they were not trained for it. Malila > himself was on the scene. His car splattered with blood. > > The police were more worried with trying to set up a crime tape than > rendering assistance to the victim. There was a captain there who > seemed more concerned to stop people taking pictures and to threaten > to arrest them than render assistance. > > Yes I observed with sadness from behind the tape, aghast that nothing > was been done - not doing anything myself - knowing I would react with > anger and outrage should a policeman have laid a finger on me in any > attempt to cross the line - so I remained a spectator. Wondering if it > was I lying there whether the same lack of concern would be metered > out by the SAP. > > Not only did Andrew bleed to death on that pavement, Obs was > hemorrhaging as well. > > No matter what Andrew did or was alleged to have been or where he was > from, he was human first and did not deserve to die in a gutter in > Observatory. > > Trev -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to ob...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to obsnw+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en.
