A young man from Lost City is traumatised after a cop allegedly shot his dog in their home.
Brayan Bezuidenhoudt, 18, says cops entered their house in Laura Crescent and shot his cross-bred pit bull Tosca in the eye on Sunday.
“My friends and I were chilling and the cops ran into the neighbour’s house. I wanted to go out and see this when they kicked down the front door,” he explains.
“They came in and I was in the kitchen with Tosca and she saw him coming with the firearm.
“She went for him but I called her, she stopped but slid on the tiles and he shouted “hond” and he shot the dog.”
A hartseer Brayan says Tosca did not pose a threat to the officer: “I shouted at him, hoekom skiet meneer my hond, but he didn't answer and went out.
“The dog was moaning and groaning and there was a lot of blood everywhere.
“That moment when he shot her, I felt like I could just grab him and just give him one.
“She didn’t bite him. It’s also traumatising because why do it in front of a minor that is 11 years old,” he says.
He further alleges that cops told them that they were not from the Mitchells Plain area.
“You think we are from the Plain, they said, ons is nie die boere van die Plein nie.”
Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg referred queries to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
Ipid spokesperson Robbie Raburabu confirmed that the matter is under investigation.
“Ipid has taken over the case docket of an assault and discharge of an official firearm. The investigation is still in an infancy stage because the case is still new,” he says.
Meanwhile, Tosca is currently receiving treatment at the Animal Welfare Society of SA (AWS).
AWS spokesperson, Allan Perrins, says: “She was given a blood transfusion to compensate for massive blood loss as a result of the gunshot wound and taken to be x-rayed.
“For now she is on a drip and heavily sedated in our ICU in critical condition with the bullet and multiple bullet fragments still firmly lodged in her cheek and shattered jaw.
“We are hopeful that she will be strong enough to undergo surgery within the next few days.”
byron.lukas@inl.co.za