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Two men, who allegedly assaulted and called security guards the K-word, walked out of court on free bail after spending two nights in police custody.
Paul Johannes Engelbrecht, 34, and Eugene Frederick Terreblanche, 35, were apparently playing music at full blast in a car at the Zonnebloem complex in Boksburg on the East Rand on Friday night when the guards asked them to lower the volume.
Sipho Nkosi, 35, and his colleague Clifford Makarlani were allegedly attacked by the duo later that night when they went back to ask that they lower the volume again.
The Boksburg magistrate’s court released Engelbrecht and Terreblanche on free bail on Monday after they spent the weekend in the Boksburg North police holding cells.
Police spokesperson Cst Justice Ramaube said Engelbrecht and Terreblanche were facing charges of assault with aggravating circumstances, crimen injuria, and resisting arrest.
“When the police attempted to handcuff them, the pair refused and started causing chaos. Members had to use minimum force to restrain them,” Ramaube said.
A shaken Nkosi yesterday told Sowetan that on the day of the incident, Engelbrecht and Terreblanche were drinking alcohol and sitting with their partners while making a noise.
“They were playing music loudly and revving their vehicle so that it too made noise. My colleague [Makarlani] and I went to them and asked them to keep it down. They dismissed us and when we were walking away, we heard them saying 'f**k security' and said 'if one of those k*****s touches my car I will f**k them up',” Nkosi said.
He said the noise was not lowered and that they felt reluctant to go back to the duo.
“We had to wait for 10pm when the curfew on noise levels was effected for us to call the reaction unit to handle the situation. The reaction guys arrived and went to talk to them. But one of those guys’ girlfriends came to my colleague and grabbed him by his clothes while hurling insults at us,” he said.
“She left, but came back a few moments later with her boyfriend. He pulled out his gun, cocked it and said he would kill us for touching his woman. I was left alone in the guard room because my colleagues [Makarlani] ran outside. The second guy came in and they beat me up,” Nkosi said.
He said his other colleague who was called in as backup called the police and their supervisor.
Makarlani said he was hit with a brick on the head during the commotion.
“I can't see properly with my right eye. Those guys are dangerous. They didn't seem to be in their right mind when this happened because nobody with sense would have acted like that,” Makarlani said.
Engelbrecht denied assaulting Nkosi and Makarlani. He further denied using the K-word.
“They didn't even come to tell us that we were making a noise. They just called the reaction unit to talk to us. Next thing we know there were police officers in our house and they were pointing a gun at my two-year-old daughter. We didn't use the K-word and we didn't assault the security guards,” Engelbrecht said.
A neighbour who witnessed the incident and asked not to be named said her neighbours were “known for disturbing the peace”.
“These guys broke the boom gate and tried to break the door at the guard house. There were about seven police vehicles outside their house that night. There was a huge scuffle and the tenants were pepper-sprayed and taken away because they were also fighting with the police officers,” she said.
