Liela Groenewald
Hot on the heels of the BBC filming of the brutal assault of a suspect by Brixton policemen, a Ghanaian academic claims he was a victim of their brutality too.
Last Sunday geologist Dr Frank Nyame was confronted by two policemen in Brixton who suspected he was an illegal immigrant. He claims the two swore at him and he was head- butted into unconsciousness.
This was the first time the well-travelled 38-year-old had been assaulted in his life – and the first time he was imprisoned.
He claims the man who attacked him was a police sergeant known as “Bokkie”, later confirmed to be a Sergeant Keulder.
Nyame’s landlord, Andries Bezuidenhout, was also arrested for obstruction of justice after trying to intervene on behalf of his tenant. He was released without being charged.
The vicious maltreatment of suspects by Brixton police members was captured on film by the BBC and aired on South African TV this week.
Nyame and Bezuidenhout have sent statements to the South African Police Service’s administrative services and are waiting for a response.
Nyame says he was on his way to a shop in Brixton when two plain-clothed men got out of a car and “hemmed me in”. One began screaming at him, asking where he was from. When he replied, “from Ghana”, he was accused of being an illegal immigrant and identification was demanded.
Nyame showed the two men his University of the Witwatersrand student card. This did not satisfy them. Nyame’s accuser grabbed him on the arm and attempted to push him into their unmarked car.
Nyame in turn asked for identification. They screamed that they were members of the police and one produced an identification card.
Nyame says he was repeatedly called “a fucking illegal immigrant roaming the streets” and threatened that he would be beaten up if the officer “ever saw him on the street again”.
Nyame took them to his house nearby and produced his Ghanaian passport, containing a valid visa. Keulder reacted by yelling that “he comes here and pretends it is his country”.
Nyame and Bezuidenhout drove to the Brixton police station, to make a statement. As Nyame was writing his, Keulder entered, this time in uniform, and examined his passport.
According to Nyame, Keulder grabbed him by the hand and neck, telling him that he had arrested him, while forcibly pushing him towards the back of the counter. Nyame told the police officer to “leave me alone to make a statement”.
Keulder responded by head-butting him. Nyame fell unconcious to the floor. When he came to minutes later, he was behind the counter of the charge office. Another white policeman twice asked him where Ghana was, before spitting a mouthful of cold drink into his face.
Bezuidenhout contacted Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR). An inquiry from LHR revealed Nyame was being charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. After being held in a cell for a few hours, he was released without being charged.
Keulder refused to comment and referred questions to the station commander, who said if an assault had taken place, police could only respond after a formal charge was laid.