’They also replaced white spirits alcohol with hand sanitiser’
’They also replaced white spirits alcohol with hand sanitiser’
Pretoria – Police allegedly took some of the liquor confiscated from Hennie’s Restaurant and filled certain bottles with tea.
This emerged last week after AfriForum assisted the establishment to lay charges against the police who confiscated the alcohol at its Moreleta Park base and arrested the manager.
Jacques Broodryk of AfriForum said: “Apart from some of the stock missing, some of the bottles’ contents were also replaced with tea.
“But what is even worse was, they replaced the white spirits alcohol with hand sanitiser and whiskey with tea.”
The officers are said to have unlawfully arrested the restaurant manager Atrayo Nolte, alleging that he served alcohol to clients while this was outlawed due to lockdown regulations.
The confiscated alcohol was kept at the Garsfontein police station for several days, even after the National Prosecuting Authority had dropped all charges against Nolte.
The alcohol was however returned to the restaurant after the owner’s first consultation with AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit.
Apart from some of the stock missing, some of the bottles’ contents had been replaced with tea, according to him.
Advocate Gerrie Nel, head of the prosecution unit, said this was one of several cases they were involved in resulting from police officers abusing their power.
“Several victims have contacted us for assistance after being treated unfairly and unreasonably by the police.
“What makes this very shocking is the fact that there seem to be no consequences for police officers who make themselves guilty of criminal conduct and this cannot be tolerated,” he said.
He said they would monitor the police’s handling of the theft charges closely to ensure that the guilty parties were held accountable.
Pretorius said he was struggling to retrieve some of his premium stock after charges were withdrawn.
He said the incident affected his business negatively. “We’ve got 40 staff that we look after and they, in turn, are responsible for more or less 110 family members.
Pretoria News
