ORIGINAL ARTICLE TRANSLATED FROM AFRIKAANS
A woman from Deneysville (South Africa) was arrested on Friday after she called the police to her home to investigate a charge of theft against her domestic worker.
A very upset Amanda de Goede (56) told Maroela Media that she was tied up in a police van, stuffed in a cell and released hours later on condition that she should make peace with her domestic worker.
De Goede says she suspected disorder when her two workers, a brother and a sister, were getting ready to go home for the weekend on Friday. “I saw the man struggling to get the suitcase closed. I asked him why the suitcase was so full when they were just going home for the weekend and he replied that it was his sister’s suitcase. When I insisted that he open the suitcase, I saw a lot of my deceased daughter, Nevilene (Pretorius)’s belongings in the suitcase.
De Goede was extremely upset and called the police to her house.
“When the police arrived, my domestic worker insisted that I had given the goods to her mother, who had previously worked for me, three years ago, even though my daughter had only been dead for two years now.”
“I have not processed her death at all and I am not ready to get rid of her belongings.
Pretorius died of brain cancer in 2019 and, according to De Goede, worked in the police force for 18 years. She lived in Klerksdorp.
“I was good to the Deneysville police officers. I donated some of my daughter’s old uniforms for them and made a lot of masks for them, ”she says crying.
De Goede says the domestic worker further argued that the dispute was actually about money, even though she had already been paid and had the money bag with her. She further explains that she called a Zimbabwean friend of the workers, who was also on the premises, to confirm that the argument was indeed not about money.
“The police asked me if he had ‘papers’ to which I replied that I did not know. She then arrested me because she believe I have a ‘paperless worker’ in my service.
“I made it clear that I did not pay him, which he confirmed. My worker sometimes brings him along to help him in the garden and I give them food, ”says De Goede.
De Goede had to sign a letter that she would never file a complaint against her domestic worker again. Police also allegedly threatened to arrest her husband, Neville, later that evening. The workers did not return to the family’s home on Monday. De Goede says she is very traumatized and too scared to file a case against the police. Police have not yet responded to Maroela Media’s inquiries.
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