Hawks raid the wrong house in Bryanston

They smashed up a really nice heavy wooden gate and their response when asked to fix damages was 'sue us'.

They cut the chain on the gate to the property where they landed the helicopter too.
 
HavocXphere said:
Even US SWAT teams generally try "Knock, knock, this is the police open up". But nope...Hawks decide to ram the (wrong) gate.
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No, they don't. In fact the US police have many times made the same mistake and in several cases killed occupants of the house during the raid.

Indeed the UK police also regularly raid the wrong house.
 
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It looks like the hawks gathering evidence is flawed. And they get search warrants on the flawed evidence.
Just imagine if they landed that helicopter in the lion enclosure at the lion park ( at feeding time)
Wouldn't that be a sight to see.
 
HAWKS DENY "WRONG HOUSE" RAID

The Hawks on Wednesday denied a report that it raided the wrong house in Sandton during an operation to crack down on illicit diamond trade.

"That was not the wrong house that was raided, it was the right house," Hawks spokesman Paul Ramaloko told Sapa.

"That is the address we have according to our information, and we secured a search and seizure warrant for that address... but nothing was found on the property."

Ramaloko was responding to a report in The New Age that Hawks officers barged into the wrong house.

The newspaper reported that an armoured vehicle rammed the gates of the property, damaged the electric fence, windows and doors during the operation on Friday.

Home owner Jennifer Peers was at home at the time with a nine-year-old girl and three-month-old baby. She claimed the police did not identify themselves or explain what they wanted. She told the newspaper they broke down her doors and threatened to shoot her dogs if they were not locked away. The girl was apparently so frightened that she hid inside a cupboard with her teddy bear.

Ramaloko admitted that there was damage to the house but said "we gave the family the necessary support of our action".

"The children were counselled the same day, and we communicated with the insurance company over the damages. That was done," he said.

Ramaloko said the operation "Project Darling" was initiated in 2012 targeting a diamond trade syndicate in South Africa.

Raids were conducted in Johannesburg and Kimberley in recent weeks and among the items seized was R4.417 million cash, 66 diamonds, 16 digital scales, laptops, vehicles, two firearms, 282 rounds of ammunition, and an elephant tusk.

He said 26 people had been arrested so far, and some had already appeared in court facing charges of money laundering and using unregistered premises as diamond trading houses.


Source : Sapa /mar/jk/jje
Date : 27 Aug 2014 09:50
 
It was the wrong house, but also the right one?? O_o
 
I had a similar experience to this family but not to that extent. I can only imagine how traumatising it must of been.
 
supersunbird said:
So is Jennifer Peers involved in elicit diamond stuff? If not then its mos the wrong house.
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Or she was suspected of being involved, and a judge wrote out a warrant feeling that the suspicion is justified. The fact that they found nothing doesn't mean that the raid wasn't justified. For all we know she might or might not be involved, but didn't keep anything at home.
 
Tacet said:
Or she was suspected of being involved, and a judge wrote out a warrant feeling that the suspicion is justified. The fact that they found nothing doesn't mean that the raid wasn't justified. For all we know she might or might not be involved, but didn't keep anything at home.
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Probably a husband/partner who was involved. So by wrong house they raided the one that he wasn't occupying.
 
So would she have the right to information to show that she was indeed a suspect?
What I'm getting at is, can a warrant be issued based on a thumb suck?
And if so can she take the state to court?
This is all assuming they got the wrong person ofcourse?
 
Stuff happens
Years ago my sister and her husband was in a restaurant robbery in Northcliff.
Very traumatizing, but no one was luckily injured. The next day my sister starts arranging all the claims for their losses, jewelry, watches, phones etc. And she phones the Northcliff police station to ask for the case number for the Restaurant robbery/hostage situation they were in the previous night. The desk sergeant was very helpful, asking for her address and phone number, telling her that someone will be phoning her back soon with the case number.
Now at that time she was working from a home-office at her house on top of Northcliff - beautiful view of the city skyline.
So she gives them the address and the officer assures her someone will be in contact as soon as possible.

Half an hour later the gate intercom rings. Her husband, who had taken the day off to recover from their ordeal, answers it and its a police officer. He was a bit surprised that someone drove over with the case number, but walks out to meet him and calls their dogs together as he opens the gate using his remote.

And walks into a heavily armed task force team pointing their rifles at him. They had been called in to respond to a robbery/hostage situation at their address. Police helicopters, closed off roads, snipers, the works.
I don't know who was more angry, my sister, or the task force commander. My poor brother-in-law had to be sedated.

That was the last straw, after that they decided to emigrate to the US. (A few months after moving to their new house in Atlanta they were almost raided by a SWAT team. Seems their new fax machine was repeatedly calling 911. I can't make this stuff up if I tried.)
 
...lets see what comes from this,...if the Hawks are correct, that this house was part of a syndicate set up...even if the Missus was not aware of it....is the state still liable for the damages? Always, three sides to the story, theirs, hers and the truth...
 
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