PLETTENBERG BAY - Plettenberg Bay police station commander Colonel Nolan Michaels was injured during a mob-justice incident in New Horizons over the weekend, following the fatal stabbing of a young resident.
Provincial police spokesperson Captain Malcolm Pojie said Michaels was one of the local police members who responded to reports of a murder in Taaibos Avenue in New Horizons at about 15:20 on Saturday 27 July.
Marcel Clinton Williams (23) was allegedly stabbed by the father of his girlfriend. Pojie said Williams and his girlfriend allegedly had an altercation earlier. After informing her 53-year-old father of the altercation, he and several other family members are believed to have confronted Williams. "The confrontation ended up with the deceased being stabbed in his neck. He collapsed in the street where he was later declared dead by paramedics on the scene," Pojie said.
A group of New Horizons residents then decided to take the law into their own hands, Pojie said, and went after the woman's father who had, in the meantime, fled to his home to escape the mob, which is where he was arrested by police.
"While the suspect was being contained, disgruntled members of the community started to attack the police members, threatening to take the law into their own hands.
"They pelted police members with stones and in the process the station commander (Michaels) sustained a cut to his jaw for which he later received medical treatment," Pojie said. He added that there was substantial damage to police vehicles on the scene. "The vehicles will be assessed later to determine the extent of the damage and what impact it might have on service delivery."
In the meantime, video footage of the incident has been shared on social media showing a group of residents running after fleeing police, pelting them with large stones as they try to get away from the angry mob.
"The manner in which certain community members of New Horizons tried to take the law into their own hands left much to be desired following an attack on police officers. Attacking those who have put their lives at stake to protect the very community by arresting a murder suspect, cannot be tolerated," warned Eden cluster commander Major-General Oswald Reddy. He also condemned the attack on Michaels and other police members "in the strongest terms possible".
Community members in New Horizons pelted police and their vehicles with stones in New Horizons during a mob justice incident.
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