Cape Town - Police watchdog, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), said its investigation into the death of a Wynberg father has been finalised.
Ramone Freeman, 31, died after he was shot once in the chest, allegedly by a police officer on February 11, in Mile End Road, Diep River.
The officers were responding to a housebreaking during load shedding, when they spotted Freeman jumping over the complex wall where his mother lives.
It was alleged that he attacked the officers with a knife and was shot once in the chest.
Six months after his death, Ipid spokesperson, Phaladi Shuping, said the investigation had been completed.
He said the docket was being prepared for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
“This case investigated by Ipid and the investigation is finalised.
“Ipid is currently preparing the docket for the DPP to make a decision,” Shuping said.
Freeman’s family, however, said they have been kept in the dark about the investigation since the day of the fatal shooting.
His widow, Akifah Williams, said she and her children still had many unanswered questions.
“Most of those questions I can’t answer because I don’t even know what took place that night, and it’s hard, we won’t heal until we at least know what happened that night,” Williams said.
“My kids have been suffering emotionally, especially my daughter.
“Up until today, my kids did not receive the trauma counselling that the Ipid promised the morning of their dad’s death.”
The officers implicated were still stationed at the police station.
Freeman’s mother, Vanessa Freeman, said she was still in pain following her son’s death.
“It’s been six months. I’m still in pain and nobody has been arrested as yet,” she said.
A month before his death, Freeman applied to be a police reservist, but at the time police couldn’t verify this information.
Williams said: “He was applying to be a reservist at the station and cops were helping, that was on January 23 when he did the application.”
byron.lukas@inl.co.za
Cape Argus