hrvtrans STATEMENT, MR FALCK RE NOLENE SMITH 1996-06-25 WORCESTER 2 https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=56183&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/worcest/falck.htm ADV POTGIETER Would you prefer to give your evidence in Afrikaans? MR FALCK That is correct. ADV POTGIETER Please give me your full names. MR FLACK: Graeme Falck, spelt GRAEME. GRAEME FALCK: (sworn states) ADV POTGIETER MR FALCK ADV POTGIETER Could you just place yourself of record and then we will deal with your testimony. MR FALCK I am the lawyer for Mrs Steyn. She wants to have her side of the matter placed on record and it was decided to do this in the form of a sworn testimony on my part as well as from her. It is my intention to read this sworn statement to the Commission. There are also attachments to which I will refer. ADV POTGIETER Thank you, will you hand that or copies of it to be added into the documentation of this testimony? MR FALCK I have a copy for you. ADV POTGIETER Thank you Mr Falck, you may continue with the affidavit. MR FALCK I begin with the affidavit of Mrs Steyn and after that an affidavit which I completed myself. You are welcome to interrupt me if there are any matters which are not clear. ADV POTGIETER Thank you, you may present it and if there are any further matter that remain unclear I will take this up with yourselves. MR FALCK I the undersigned Petronella Johanna Steyn declares the following: I am an adult woman of 43 years and I have had access to the ... (interrupted) INTERPRETER The interpreters are having a some difficulty following. ADV POTGIETER Could you read a bit slower because they translate as you speak. MR FALCK Sure. I wish to make a presentation in response to the claims made. It must be mentioned that I have asked my legal representative to gain access to the relevant dossier. On the 17th November 1990 an incident occurred during which a revolves was aimed at my son in my shop by a young person who threatened to shoot him. This was 3 or 5 days prior to the event mentioned in the previous testimony. ADV POTGIETER MR FALCK To which affidavit are you referring? ADV POTGIETER MR FALCK ADV POTGIETER It looks as if we though that these are 2 different copies. Sorry no, this is two original statements. Thank you, we now have it in front of us so you may continue. MR FALCK What I want to say with regard to this statement is that a revolver was aimed at him and he was told that, I would shoot you or I would blow you away. I refer to the statement mentioned in which my point of view with the regard to the events are clearly said. I was protecting my life and property against what I experienced to be a very real threat. A copy of my affidavit in this regard is added as Annexure PJS2. At my discussions with the national legal advisor it was decided that I would also give you this affidavit which I would like to do at this moment. Let me just look at it for a moment. It is an extended description of the events from the perspective of Mrs Steyn. ADV POTGIETER Thank you, if you want to read it into the record. MR FALCK In the shop with me was my assistant, Mrs de Villiers as well as 2 customers. The customers were in the dressing rooms at the back of the shop and Mrs de Villiers was assisting them. I then became aware of groups of young people outside in Barry Street. I looked out of the front door down Barry Street and saw a large group of young people, roughly 30 people walking in the direction of my shop. I saw yellow police vehicles at the end of the street. The group of young people began to run in my direction, they were running from the direction of the police station towards the Coloured area. I was not able to close the door and I also was not able to go to the telephone because I felt it was too far away and I had no opportunity to call for help. I was also not able to run to my house because I would have had to go outside on the pavement in the street where the people were gathered. I could see this through the show window. The only exit of my shop is at the front, the front door so I had no opportunity to escape. As the 3 men entered the front of the shop I was scared that I might be killed and I was also worried that the large group of people would enter the shop to hurt me. I then decided that because of the unrest and the uproarious behavious of the people outside as well as the calls to enter the shop and to quote "to fuck up the shop" I was extremely scared so I took my revolver and aimed it at the man with the blue T-shirt who was in front of the 3 men. When the man with the blue T-shirt saw the revolver he stopped about one step inside the shop. I said to the man that if he approached, I would shoot him. Just before the man with the T-shirt entered the shop, he pushed open the front door with his right elbow. He had something in his hand which he was pushing in my direction. It looked as if this was an aerosol can but I was not sure exactly what it might have been. I had thought at that moment that if might have been something with which I could be hurt. As this person aimed the object at me the other 2 men moved forward. I can remember that one of these men was holding a broken brown beer bottle in his hand. I heard glass breaking outside the shop and I thought that I would be attacked at that moment. I then shot at the man with the blue T-shirt, with my revolver. He turned around and left the shop. The other 2 men approached me and I also aimed the revolver at them and they then left the shop. I would also have shot at them if they did not turn around. When I shot it was not aimed at any particular member of the man. As these people left my shop, I closed the shop doors. The police arrived and I saw that the man with the blue T-shirt was laying in the street. An ambulance arrived and took the injured person away. I mentioned all of these points to Warrant Officer Spies as well as an officer Wessels. I did not recognise any of the people in the large group of people. Apart from fragments of bottles outside my shop in the street, in the furrow, there was no other damage to my shop. I feel that I could not have defended myself in any way other than to shoot at that time. ADV POTGIETER Thank you, you may continue with the remainder of the original major statement. MR FALCK My version of the events was supported by Dorothy de Villiers whose statement or affidavit is attached as PJS3, as well as 2 persons with the surname Daniels, as well as Johan Conradie whose affidavit is annexed as PJS6. I want to briefly indicate that Dorothy de Villiers was an employee. Important aspects from her statement are the following: ADV POTGIETER If you could give this in as limited a way as possible because of the time limits that we have. MR FALCK Johan Conradie was a police officer and he claims to have heard a shot and also affirms that a group of roughly 12 Coloured young people entered the shop or were in the region of the shop. He then heard the shot in the direction of the shop and he ran in the direction of the shot and saw one of the Coloured men falling towards the floor. He saw him being picked up as he was stumbling by 2 other men who carried him about 80 metres away from the shop entrance. They then dropped him and ran away. He also says that he was the first person to reach Mrs Steyn after this incident and she stated to him that people entered her shop and in a threatening way approached her. I want to respond to this understanding that Mr de Bruin must not at the incident, he was not present at the incident and that the shortened statement indicates that the police shot at the people who were marching but I understand that Mr de Bruin did not say this in his testimony today. As far as she understands there was no shooting incidents on the part of the police on this particular day at the marching of the youths. She says that she shot the person inside her shop as he and others entered her shop and threatened her. She denies that either herself or Mr de Bruin was outside the shop when the shot was fired. The post-mortem also indicated that the shot entered the body underneath the left arm in the armpit and that she did not shoot him in the chest. The post-mortem shows that the shot entered the body in the armpit. ADV POTGIETER You may then just conclude with the statement of Mrs Steyn, also refer to the statement Mr Graeme Falck which must also be presented to this Commission. MR FALCK ADV POTGIETER Maybe in a summary way you could refer us to the documentation. MR FALCK ADV POTGIETER Was this on the day of this incident? MR FALCK ADV POTGIETER MR FALCK The sworn statement used by the police indicates that, I saw Jacques de Bruin and his mother throwing rocks at passing vehicles. It appears to me that this was close to the mobile shop on the 21st of November. ADV POTGIETER MR FALCK Ruben Jacobs to whom Mr de Bruin has referred this morning claimed in his statement that he has no idea who might have shot Jacques de Bruin according to his affidavit. If I understand correctly, Mr de Bruin said that he was an eye witness and it would appear that he was an eye witness but he does not know who actually fired the shot in terms of his affidavit. ADV POTGIETER