A journalist, furious because his stories had been rejected, stormed into a radio station’s premises and threatened to ”blow this place up” unless his grievances were aired.
Radio Heart’s news anchor Zulpha Khan on Friday told the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court she bore the brunt of the incident in May, because she had to deal with the man.
Before magistrate Phindi Norman is David Robert Lewis (39), who described himself as a ”music journalist, published writer, visual artist and community activist”.
He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault by threats.
Khan told the court: ”He was so angry that he couldn’t make eye contact with me — he was infuriated about something.”
She said she was called to the reception area of the station by a man who demanded to speak to a reporter. ”I asked him what he wanted to speak about, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. He was talking about all kinds of different things.
”I asked what he wanted from us. He tried to explain but nothing made sense and I couldn’t understand. At one point he raised his voice, and I told him he should not be shouting in the premises of a professional organisation.
”He started showing me doctorates and other documents from his bag. I realised he was very upset and I asked him what he wanted from us. He asked if his story was not newsworthy enough and I said it was not for me to decide. He said if no one was going to listen to his story, he would blow the place up with machine guns.”
She added: ”I was shocked, and not sure if he was serious or not. I could see he was unstable and seriously upset.”
The commotion caused other staff to enter the reception area to protect her, and she decided to return her office and not engage with him further. Someone called the flying squad.
”It was frightening that someone could enter our building like that and threaten us,” she said.
The case continues. — Sapa