The East London SPCA has accused police of stonewalling their attempts to find the officers allegedly behind two separate dog shootings in Buffalo Flats, with witnesses claiming both were at the hands of police officers during raids.
Over the past month, inquiries into the death of Jessie, a pregnant boerboel who was shot through the stomach in her backyard in Parkside, have gone unanswered by the police communication department.
On Monday last week, the second dog, pit bull Pablo, was shot in the paw in his yard in Vergenoeg.
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said they were battling to source information on both dog shootings, but confirmed that police had received questions from the Dispatch about Jessie’s death on October 20.
In response to follow-up questions on both incidents, Colonel Siphokazi Mawisa said: “The owner of the dog has not opened any case of malicious damage to property in relation to the death of Jessie.
“However, the owner or the SPCA may still open a case so that the allegation may be thoroughly investigated.
“It is advised that the complainant in this case meets the Buffalo Flats station commander for a way forward in resolving his complaint.”
The East London SPCA’s general manager, Ian Lombard, said he had been unable to open a case without the name of the officer involved, which police had refused to divulge as they were “still investigating”.
Lombard said an internal SPCA investigation suggested both dogs were allegedly shot by an officer in the same unit.
Jessie’s owner, Voirrey Esbend, from Parkside, said police members entered her home during load-shedding on October 17 with a warrant to search a tenant’s flat.
Esbend said a group of about 20 armed police, including a balaclava-clad team with bulletproof vests as well as plainclothes officers paraded through the house — allegedly not covered by the warrant — and towards the kitchen.
“When they saw me by the window, they said they were the police ... they came through the house to the kitchen’s backdoor but when he [an officer] opened the top half of the stable door he stopped after Jessie barked at him.
“When he couldn’t get past Jessie, he took out a handgun.
“I asked him ‘please don’t shoot the dog, let me fetch her’, but they ignored me and an officer held me back.
“The first shot went off, then the second shot went off.”
Esbend said the officers ignored her protests and simply moved on.
Lombard said: “We can’t find perpetrators for either, but the details I got from Jessie’s owners are similar to the assailant’s details in Pablo’s case.
“I can’t do anything until I find the name of the officers.”
Lombard assisted the Fray family after Pablo, their three-year old pit bull, was shot in the paw on Monday evening last week.
Pablo was rushed to the state vet the next day where his leg had to be amputated.
Lombard said: “According to a neighbour, the police were raiding number 48 — they found nothing — then jumped the fence.
“The man wasn’t attacked. He walked out to the property, around to the back of the house and shot Pablo. Then he walked away and laughed about it."
— Lombard
“The homeowner asked for a copy of the warrant and they wouldn’t give it to him, they told him to go and see it at the station.
“They also [allegedly] tried to shoot his dog with a rubber bullet but missed.”
A video shared to the SPCA’s Facebook page, recorded on a neighbour’s security camera, shows Pablo running outside his home property into the road, and quickly running back.
A few seconds later, what looks like a man dressed in a bulletproof vest walks in the same direction.
“The guy got out his vehicle 10 seconds after Pablo had ran back into his yard.
“The man wasn’t attacked. He walked out to the property, around to the back of the house and shot Pablo.
“Then he walked away and laughed about it,” Lombard said.
According to statements given by Pablo’s owner’s family to the SPCA, Sionade Fray said: “I was sitting in the lounge and heard the gate bang twice, then we heard the gunshot.”
Lombard confirmed he was in the process of lodging a formal complaint with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
“I went to the SAPS [on Tuesday] and spoke to the station commander, Brigadier Zanele Baninzi.
“I sent her all the clips and she said without registration numbers [of the vehicles seen in the video] she couldn’t help me.
“She hasn’t come back to me yet.
“From the SAPS it’s just promises and no delivery whatsoever,” he said.
“They stonewall you because they protect each other.
“They are [allegedly] shooting as they can because they have balaclavas over their heads, shooting dogs as they wish.
“It’s becoming like vigilantes — they think they are above the law.
“If I had the name of the accused, I would be pressing charges in terms of the Animal Protection Act.”
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