hrvtrans TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMITTEE 1996-11-26 GUGULETU 7 POLLSMOOR 1 CT/00630 QUENTIN BAILEY MARLENE BAILEY, HAROLD JOHN BAILEY SHOT AND KILLED BY, POLICE https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55767&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/polls/ct00630.htm ADV POTGIETER Good morning Ms Bailey, who is with you? MS BAILEY My husband. ADV POTGIETER Your husband, Mr Bailey. MS BAILEY Yes. ADV POTGIETER Will both of you be talking - or only you? MS BAILEY Yes he would also like to say...[intervention] ADV POTGIETER He would also like to say something - all right. Well then both of you will have to take the oath. And I am going to ask you to stand first or you can stand both. But I am just going to ask Mr Bailey to give us his full names. MR BAILEY Harold John Bailey ADV POTGIETER Thank you very much. MARLENE BAILEY Duly sworn states HAROLD JOHN BAILEY Duly sworn states ADV POTGIETER Thank you, you may be seated. Dr Wendy Orr will assist you in giving your testimony. DR ORR Good morning Mr and Ms Bailey. MS BAILEY Good morning - morning. DR ORR Thank you both for being here. I think it must have be very difficult for you to sit through the previous two testimonies knowing that - that those events affected your lives so deeply as well. So, I am going to ask you, Ms Bailey to start and tell us what happened to your family on that day, in August 1985. MS BAILEY I am Ms Marlene Bailey. I worked at Pick & Pay that time when it happened. I got home at half past five and as I got out of the taxi I heard two shots - and I still told the lady that was getting off next to me, I have said - Ek wonder wie skiet hulle nou? I wonder who they are shooting now? [indistinct] my door, because my yard faces Wespoort Laan and my front is in Shepard Way. And as I got into my backdoor my two sons were crying. And I just thought - ag, it is just the way children goes on when the mother and father is working. But he was at night shift at that time. And as I went through the room he came out by our room and as I looked at him I could see something was wrong. And he said to me - he called me Kaffer. Kaffer, Quentin has been shot, and I went out by the door. And as I went down, from Shepherd way I could go into Drover street, not far - just so - and as I walked down Drover street, this police came up and I was going down. He still had on Riot clothes. I can see him clearly still. And as I came to the lane there, where my son was laying, there were three policemen. Two Coloureds were sitting in the van, one was standing over him with a shotgun and the - there were three - and the one was standing on the hill. So, we heard nothing afterwards. And the UDF still came to us - as you know. That time we afraid to accept anything and I chased them away, because we were afraid, the next minute - I mean, if you accept something now, the next minute the police will be on your door. But I can tell you - they were very-very rude. And after the funeral and everything - Mr Moosa, we went to Mr Moosa and he said we will get a letter - so we got the letter from the Court and we went the first time. So nothing happened, and the second time they sent us a letter again and so we went again. So they just called us into a little room and said to us - everything is over. That there is nothing they can do about it, and so we just left it like that. DR ORR Ms Bailey, how old was Quentin when he was killed? MS BAILEY He was 13. DR ORR And tell us about the rest of your family - how many other children do you have? MS BAILEY DR ORR The policeman you saw in the street, as you were walking up, from what he said it sounds as if he was the one who shot. MS BAILEY DR ORR This lady you spoke to yesterday, do you think she might be prepared to give a statement to the Truth Commission about what happened that day? MS BAILEY I hope so, if I can talk to her, I hope so. DR ORR Can I ask you to give her name to the briefer afterwards? MS BAILEY Ja. DR ORR Thank you. Mr Bailey, is there anything you would like to add? MR BAILEY Well, as I - as she now put everything on to you - I can - about to say, how could the - the way he went out of the house - I was on night shift and I was - she was working and I always make the food if I am on night shift. DR ORR Thank you very much Mr and Ms Bailey. I have no further questions, but perhaps my colleagues do. ADV POTGIETER Thank you Wendy, Glenda - Ms Bailey, the policeman that you met in the street, you said it was a white policeman? MS BAILEY Yes, an European policeman. ADV POTGIETER And what kind of uniform was he wearing was it...[intervention] MS BAILEY Blue, he had on a blue uniform such a - that floppy jackets with the big pockets - I can still remember and he had the blue boots on, that what he had on. ADV POTGIETER And, did he had a fire arm with him? MS BAILEY No, he had no fire arm with him. ADV POTGIETER Is there any other description that you can give of him? Was he young - oldish? MS BAILEY ADV POTGIETER And it appears that the younger one is the one that was doing some shooting? MS BAILEY ADV POTGIETER Now, were you present at the inquest at court? MS BAILEY There was no court case for us. Just that hokkie when the first time and the second time we went, they just called us back into that little room and just said to us - it is over. There is nothing they can do, so we left. ADV POTGIETER So you were not sitting in at a hearing? MS BAILEY Nothing ADV POTGIETER Where you heard what was going on and what is alleged to what have happened. MS BAILEY No sir, nothing. ADV POTGIETER Nothing like that? MS BAILEY Nothing - - just that little room, that is all. ADV POTGIETER That was in the court in Wynberg? MS BAILEY In Wynberg. ADV POTGIETER Now I have explained to Ms Paulsen - Mr and Ms Paulsen what the official version is of what happened and the fact that the police were shooting - was - who were apparently hiding behind one of the walls near to Eisleben Road. And of course, that eventually the Magistrate who held the inquest, found that nobody could be held responsible for the deaths. In fact, found that the police were acting in self defence. So, it is obviously a bit difficult to understand if you are hiding behind a wall, that you could have acted in self defence against you know a 13 year old. MS BAILEY ADV POTGIETER But thank you very much for coming. Thank you for sharing your testimony with us. MS BAILEY ADV POTGIETER We appreciate that. MS BAILEY Thank you. ADV POTGIETER MS BAILEY Ja. ADV POTGIETER But hank you very much for coming. MS BAILEY Thank you sir. MR BAILEY We thank you.