In an application in which the facts read like a horror movie, a man who was kicked out of a witness protection programme and claimed that he and his family are now being threatened with death by a police officer, turned to court for urgent protection.

The man, who is only identified by his initials in the judgment delivered by the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, called on the court in person for urgent help as he feared for his life and that of his family.

Mr M, a witness in a murder trial, asked the court for an interdict against a female SAPS officer, or anyone acting on her behalf, to prevent her from harming them. The officer, on the other hand, claimed it was not her who is sending the threatening text messages to him.

The court heard that M’s involvement as a State witness in the murder case has triggered a series of events which resulted in him being the subject of a large number of threats on his life. The court remarked that, on the papers before the court, it has been established, at least on face value, that those threats were issued by a certain police officer at one of the police stations in Johannesburg.

Looking at the messages, the court noted that “they are as pungent as they are numerous.”

Judge Stuart Wilson said the messages placed before him spanned just under two years and were sent from seven different cell phone numbers. They repeatedly say that Mr M and his family will be killed “like dogs”.

“They are punctuated with the words 'bang bang' in a context which obviously implies gunfire.”

The threats are incessant. Mr M is told that he is being followed, that he will be “hunted” down, and that the author of the messages will not rest until he and his “stupid family” are dead. His wife is referred to in the messages as his “pathetic wife”.

There are details about the car Mr M drives as well as his movements. One of the messages says that he had been followed from “Parkview” to his residence. Derogatory racial remarks are also made towards him in the messages.

The court also noted that at least one of the cell numbers from which the threats emanated was registered using the specific SAPS officer’s identity number. That, together with the fact that the author of one of the messages identifies themselves by their surname, is good on the face of it evidence that she is the source of the threats, the judge said.

Mr M earlier obtained a protection order against the officer, but shortly after that, he received a message stating that “no court in this country is gonna stop me from getting you killed”.

The minister said that the officer has opened a case of fraud against whoever used her identity to obtain the cell number that sent one of the messages.

Judge Wilson remarked that in the case before him, it is unclear what motive the officer would have to embark upon what was obviously a sustained attempt to terrorise the M family. But, the judge added, it seems as if Mr M was unhappy with the way the officer handled certain complaints he had laid about the way he was treated in the witness protection programme.

As the threats seemed serious, the court interdicted the officer from harming the family, and she had until June 4 to state her side to the court.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

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Witness protection failure: Man seeks court intervention against police threats