A man who handed a firearm in to the Worcester police for safekeeping in 2009 was shocked to learn it had been destroyed without his knowledge.
Peter Puren trusted the Worcester police to take care of an heirloom he was set to inherit from his grandmother, and pending the relicensing process this entailed. Little did he know that, following her death two years later, the only item in his possession he would have had in memory of her would be destroyed without his even being informed.
Police documents detailing the handover, which took place on 17 June 2009, confirmed Puren had handed the Special Taurus Revolver for safekeeping while applying for a firearm licence.
He told Standard he had handed it in when his grandmother was old and infirm, and clearly not able to use it, and was to remain in safekeeping until his legal ownership.
In May 2011 Puren applied for a firearm licence but was declined. Every year until 2016 he reapplied without success. “I moved to Camps Bay, Cape Town in 2013 and joined the local neighbourhood watch. I was told I would need a firearm so I reapplied for a firearm licence for my late grandmother’s firearm.
“I was really shocked to learn the firearm had been destroyed.”
After giving up for so many years he decided to revisit the issue and found the handover documents among his things as he was preparing to move.
“I thought I’d take it up because the only thing I’d inherited from my grandmother had just vanished and no one wanted to take accountability.”
In what seems a case of police bungling a person with the initials GF Otto also appeared on the documents as the owner of the firearm, despite Puren’s having all the documents to prove he was the owner who had handed the firearm in for safekeeping.
The police documents further stated GF Otto had voluntarily surrendered the firearm for destruction.
“I have never heard of a GF Otto,” Puren said. “That was my firearm, why would I spend so many years trying to get a licence for it if I knew I had it destroyed? I think it is a made-up story.”
WO Vathiswa Jacobs, spokesperson of the Worcester police, said according to the branch’s records the firearm did not belong to Puren, but rather to GF Otto.
“No firearm licence application was received,” he said.
Jacobs said police are not responsible for the safekeeping of firearms, and the only time they are kept is if they are linked to criminal activities.”
