Strandfontein residents, who are gatvol of crime in the usually quiet area, moered a skelm dik on Saturday night after he was caught robbing a woman at gunpoint.
Cops were forced to save the man after angry residents kicked him as he rolled on the ground.
Community Police Forum (CPF) chairperson Sandy Schuter told the Daily Voice that crime-fighters were on their usual patrols when they were called to the scene in Clipper Road.
“We received a call from a resident to say there is something happening in her road and we were on patrol just minutes away from Clipper Road,” she says.
“When we arrived there, the street was very busy, all concerned neighbours were outside and then came and told us that there was a lady robbed by a guy in a black hoodie.”
Sandy says the skelm ran onto the properties of residents to hide from the mob.
“He ran onto one of the properties and jumped on the roof,
“Residents were furious, some stood outside with gas guns and some with paintball guns.
“They searched their properties and SAPS searched the other properties.
“A mob then rushed to one house where they found the skelm hiding.”
A video of the incident shows an angry group of people beating and kicking the man.
“By the time SAPS arrived at that house, the officers struggled to get him away so that they could arrest him, as the victim laid charges against him.”
Footage shows a cop trying to shield the skelm from the vuiste en voete.
Sandy says: “He was so badly beaten, our patrol vehicle stood down at hospital with the alleged suspect, who in the end only suffered minor injuries.”
She says the victim's name is unknown to the community but the suspect is a “known skelm”.
Police spokesperson Colonel André Traut says the suspect was arrested: “This office can confirm that a 37-year-old man was arrested on a charge of theft last night in Strandfontein.
“The circumstances surrounding the case is under investigation and the suspect is due in court once he has been charged.”