Just a genuine, good guy.
This is how Khayalethu Mdeyide described his friend and fellow “Orange Bib” Sivuyisiwe “Bruce” Yakobi (27), who was claimed in a fatal stabbing incident while patrolling in Grabouw.
A 25-year-old suspect was arrested for murder shortly after the incident earlier this month and was expected to be back in the docks on Wednesday (26 January). The outcome of the court appearance was still unknown at the time of going to print.
Mdeyide recalled how he and Yakobi were among a group of six Grabouw Patrol Officers – better known as the Orange Bibs that work under the Community Policing Forum in partnership with the police – on patrol on Thursday night, 6 January. He said the group had split up around 21:45 with him and two others escorting Yakobi’s sister from the base in Klein Bergen to Site View, while Yakobi and two others escorted a man to Rooi Dakke. “On our way we came across a man with a big knife and requested he hand the dangerous weapon over.
“A woman in the vicinity explained it best to give us the knife as we were patrollers and not perpetrators looking to rob him.
“He initially handed it over, but turned back shouting and demanding it back. He then ran into a shack which is known for drugs, and gathered his friends who were also armed with knives and came at us, hurling stones.
“The woman suggested we give back the knife, which we did before getting out of there.”
Mdeyide recalled coming across two police vehicles in Pineview North and reporting what had happened to a couple of officers who were busy with arrests.
“We were asked to wait until they were done,” he said. “However, after some time had passed and we started feeling as if we were left there without solution, we decided to get back on our way and return to the base.
“Bruce and the others joined us along the way back. And before we reached the base we saw the same guy who also had a knife on him. Again we explained why it was not okay for him to have a knife in his possession and that we needed to confiscate it. Initially we thought he understood, but he was joined by a group of men, about 20, who pounced on us with knives and stones.”
Mdeyide said he, Yakobi and the others ran away, scattering in different directions, with the men chasing after them through the community. They later found Yakobi, who had sustained stab wounds to the back. “I could hear his breathing was laboured due to the punctures in his back,” Mdeyide said. “I sat with him, holding his hand until he succumbed.”
According to Captain Raldene Atson, Grabouw police spokesperson, the deceased was taken to the Grabouw Day Hospital with multiple stab wounds to the back around 00:15. “Circumstances surrounding his death are still unknown and form part of the Grabouw CID’s murder investigation,” she said.
Atson said the suspect appeared in the Grabouw Magistrates’ Court last Thursday (20 January) for a formal application for bail.
