[imagesource: YouTube / News24]

It looks like residents of Woodlands, Mitchells Plain took the law into their own hands on Saturday afternoon but the police were not at all happy about it.

The angry mob had descended on someone in his car at a BP filling station in the area after hearing that he had attempted to rob one resident withdrawing money at an ATM.

A video of the incident was shared on social media showing the group, including a couple of kids, surrounding the white vehicle and stoning it while the driver threw some things back at them before escaping into the nearby store.

The group then approached the car, took some things from inside, and then wheeled it out of the petrol station, broken windows and all.

Take a look:

Community policing forum (CPF) spokesperson Byron de Villiers said that the young student managed to escape from the robbers and ran to inform the residents in the area that there were two vehicles at the garage with criminal intent, “who might be waiting around to rob other people since they never got it right with him”.

That’s when “hundreds of residents” made their way to serve justice, something that de Villiers wholly condemns:

“We don’t condone barbarism at all. It’s unfortunate that the residents decided to take the law into their own hands and not let the police do their jobs. It’s an unfortunate event that took place, and luckily no one was injured in the process as the suspects ran into a local shop to escape the attackers.”

A couple of unnamed residents said that two men tried to rob another man and hit the victim in the face using a brick:

“I mean, there was a child involved. How the hell can people just watch and do fokol?” said the resident.

But the police’s version of the incident states that the men who locals claimed were robbers were in fact, complainants:

“The complainant defended himself and the male left and returned with a group of people, damaging the complainant’s vehicle and stoning the complainant and the other occupants in the vehicle, who then had to run for cover. The vehicle was completely damaged,” Van Wyk said.

Cases of attempted robbery, malicious damage to property, and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm are being investigated by the police.

[source:news24]