CAPE TOWN 18 October 1999 - SAPA
FATHER TELLS TRC HOW POLICE SHOT HIS SON
A father told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in
Cape Town on Monday how he heard the shot that killed his son while he was
reporting an earlier shooting at a Western Cape police station in 1985. Stefaans
Dyasi was testifying in the hearing in which security policeman Michael Phillip
Luff is applying for amnesty for shooting 17-year-old William Dyasi in
Zwelethemba township near Worcester in November 1985. Dyasi said he was called
to a shack in the township on the night of November 3 and found his son lying
wounded on the floor. He said his son was in great pain and he noticed blood and
shotgun pellets in his mouth. Dyasi said his son told him he had been shot by
two policemen. He said he went to the nearby police station to the report the
shooting and while he was there he heard another gunshot and went back to find
his son lying dead in the street. Luff told the committee he had identified
Dyasi as the leader of a group of youths who were stoning the local community
hall and fired a shot at him in an attempt to subdue the crowd. Luff said he
later searched the area and found Dyasi lying wounded in a hut. He disputes the
account of the boy's father that he was too badly injured to walk and claims he
led Dyasi away by the arm. Luff claimed, however, that Dyasi broke free. Luff
fired a shot in his direction in an effort to stop the youth from escaping. He
said he did not intend killing Dyasi who was struck in the lower back with a
lethal SSG shotgun cartridge. Luff said he regretted the shooting and asked
Stefaans Dyasi to accept his apology and asked for forgiveness. Dyasi replied
that he would have considered forgiving Luff if had made earlier efforts to
contact him to explain the shooting and to apologise, but he had heard nothing
since the night of his son's death. Dyasi, who wept during the hearing and had
to be comforted, said he did not believe Luff was telling the truth about the
shooting. He said he did not accept that his son was in any condition to walk
after the first shooting and therefore did not agree with Luff's allegation that
he had led the youth away. During his testimony, Luff described conditions in
townships at that time and said he was "all out war, in every sense of the
word". He said policemen were regularly shot at and petrol bombed, and on
many occasions he feared for his life. He said his decision to fire the shot
that killed Dyasi had been taken in a split second and the consequences had
haunted him ever since. He explained his failure to make contact with the family
of the youth on the grounds that it could have been interpreted as an attempt to
obstruct the course of justice. Committee chairman Judge Denzil Potgieter said
the committee would consider the application and make known its decision in due
course. More amnesty hearings are to be held in Cape Town over the next two
weeks.
© South African Press Association, 1999
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