TASNEEM HASSAN
Goodwood police are investigating a case of assault after a woman was allegedly attacked two weeks ago by fellow shoppers at the N1 City Mall.
The woman is still sporting blue marks and a bruised face.
Naziema Koopman, from Ken-sington, was shopping with her family on Sunday March 27 when she was attacked by a couple near one of the entrances to the mall.
Ms Koopman was waiting for her husband with her two sons, aged nine and 28, a few metres from the Checkers entrance when a man and a woman, came past them and knocked a trolley into nine year-old Jayden’s back.
When Ms Koopman’s older son Dawood confronted the man, the situation spiralled out of control.
Ms Koopman said the two men started arguing, and the man allegedly pointed in Dawood’s face, swearing and screaming – and eventually the two started fighting.
She said at this point things were so heated that Dawood told her to take Jaden away. Ms Koopman said as she turned around she felt a hard punch in her face, making her instantly dizzy.
“My little one started screaming as my face was bleeding. People came running to get the woman off me and my little one was shouting, ‘mommy the man is sitting on my brother’,” said Ms Koopman.
She said she tried to get the contact details of the woman who hit her and admitted to smacking the woman when she caught up with her.
Minutes later, Ms Koopman’s husband, Shaun came out of the mall to find his wife bleeding.
Ms Koopman said they told him what transpired and he then wanted to know in which direction the couple went.
“We looked for them as we needed their details to lay a charge. We found them inside the mall, and my husband pulled the woman’s arm to turn her around. He also asked the security to get the details of the people, but it’s like this (request) fell on deaf ears,” said Ms Koopman.
Goodwood resident Shireen Salie and her daughter were having breakfast at a coffee shop in the mall when she heard a commotion outside the shop.
When it carried on, Ms Salie got up to see what was happening. She said when she got outside the coffee shop, she saw a woman with blood on her face and a child frantically screaming, “mommy, mommy, mommy”,
Ms Salie said she managed to calm the boy down with some sugared water she got from the coffee shop.
Ms Salie said to her it appeared that the security was more concerned with escorting the couple out of the mall than seeing to Ms Koopman.
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“I am very concerned about what happened. I often go to the mall. It was not a nice thing to see a child crying for his mother,” said Ms Salie.
Ms Koopman said on the Wednesday after the incident she went to the mall to try and see if she could view video footage of the incident but she was refused by mall management.
She said the mall told her she needs to view the footage that the police is in possession of.
“According to the mall the only footage they can find is the footage where my husband reacted and pulled the woman to ask her what was going on.I was a victim of crime but now I feel like a criminal being questioned all the time,” said Ms Koopman.
She said she is fed up and wants justice to take its course.
“Any husband would have reacted the way my husband did,” said Ms Koopman.
Felix Sebata, the public relations consultant for N1 City Mall, confirmed the incident.
He said statements and contact details were taken from both parties involved in the incident, and as per mall protocol, the police were contacted.
“The police are currently investigating the matter. The safety of our shoppers is of paramount importance to us. Mall management takes every care to ensure everyone feels safe in our retail environment,” said Mr Sebata.
Lieutenant Waynne Theunis, the communications officer at Goodwood police station, said an assault case was opened at Goodwood police station last week.
He said investigations are ongoing.