Following various enquires received, the CCID confirms that its own officers who were present at the scene of the Sky Night Club incident on the morning of 6 March 2014 have also been suspended, pending a full investigation in collaboration with the one being undertaken by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
Background to the incident: As the CCID is mandated to do, and as is usual with all reported crime that is taking place in the CBD, our CCID officers responded to a Schedule 1 report of a deceased person inside the Sky Night Club in Riebeek Street yesterday morning (6 March 2014) at approximately 08h00.
When the CCID officers arrived on the scene at the Sky Night Club, they found a naked man bleeding and unconscious on the ground inside the club. CCID control called for an ambulance and while this was being awaited, the suspect regained consciousness and appeared to be heavily intoxicated, claiming that he had been attacked inside the club. Our officers asked him to remain calm, and informed him that an ambulance was on its way.
Meanwhile, SAPS arrived on the scene outside the club and took command of the situation.
The owner then reported to SAPS that an alleged robbery had taken place inside and identified the naked man as the suspect. SAPS attempted to arrest the alleged suspect who had by this time exited the club, and had become riotous. The suspect continued to resist arrest as well as attempts to clothe him, and SAPS instructed our CCID officers to assist with handcuffing the alleged suspect.
However, as the situation between the alleged suspect and SAPS appeared to be escalating out of hand, the CCID officers then twice attempted to lead the suspect away to the SAPS vehicle in an attempt to bring the situation under control. The alleged suspect was attended to by the ambulance personnel who arrived on the scene and eventually loaded into the SAPS vehicle to be transported to the police station.
As the incident is now under official investigation by both SAPS and IPID, any further comment at this stage will need to be sourced directly from SAPS, and the CCID can unfortunately not make any of its staff available for interviews while this is being undertaken. The CCID will, however, keep the media updated via releases such as this when we have new information on which we are able to report.
Tasso Evangelinos
Chief operating officer, Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID)