LOUIS TRICHARDT – A police inspector from the SAPS at Duivelskloof, Insp Sello Edward Tshikelele (33), last Friday appeared in court on charges of pointing a firearm and crimen injuria, following an incident at Thompson's Motors on January 28.

According to Mr Stanley Thompson from Thompson's Motors, Tshikelele brought his vehicle in for repairs several weeks prior to the incident. Several repairs were done, but when they informed Tshikelele that additional repairs were needed to ensure that the vehicle would run smoothly, Tshikelele told them to only do the repairs he asked for.

When Tshikelele came to fetch his vehicle, Mr Thompson said, they again told Tshikelele that the vehicle would not run properly, as he did not allow them to fix all the problems. Tshikelele still refused to allow them to do additional repairs, took his vehicle and left.

The next day, a very aggressive Tshikelele returned his vehicle complaining that it was not running properly. When the workshop manager told him that it was exactly what they warned him against, as he did not want to pay for additional repairs, he became even more aggressive.

The situation soon got out of hand. Tshikelele allegedly pulled out his service pistol and threatened to shoot the staff members. It is also alleged that Tshikelele threatened on several occasions during the altercation to shoot the white staff members of Thompson's motors. His weapon was, luckily, taken away from him and locked in a storeroom, while they all waited for the police to arrive.

Upon arrival following a call by Thompson's Motors, the three police officers immediately walked up to Tshikelele and started talking to him. When Mr Thompson approached them, Tshikelele, as well as the three police officers that had just arrived on the scene, aggressively wanted to know why Mr Thompson dared treated a black man in the manner in which he allegedly did. It would seem that at that stage Tshikelele had changed his story and told the police that he was attacked by the "white staff members" as soon as he sat foot in the workshop. He also, allegedly, tried his best to turn the incident into a racial issue.

An argument then ensued between Mr Thompson and the three policemen, who instructed Mr Thompson to immediately hand back Tshikelele's firearm, which was wrestled away from him. Mr Thompson, on the other hand wanted to know why the three policemen refused to arrest Tshikelele, why they did not want to disclose their names and why they refused to take statements from them.

It was only after the arrival of senior police officials, who had to reprimand the three policemen regarding their unprofessional attitude towards Mr Thompson (the complainant) that the situation was brought under control. Tshikelele's firearm was also at that stage handed to senior police officials.

Tshikelele was arrested several days after the incident. His case has since been postponed until March this year. In the meantime the case was referred to the Director of Public Prosecution for a decision. It is said that Tshikelele opened a case of assault, theft of his service firearm, pointing of a firearm at him and crimen injuria against the Thompsons.

Mr Thompson this week said: "Ninety percent of our clients are black. I really do not need trouble like this. I don't even want do think what might have happened if we did not manage to take his weapon away. More frustrating is the fact that the police immediately took Tshikelele's side, without even talking to us."