6 February 2015 R1-20/FREE
Attack of the
pill - eater
The suspect allegedly left the medicine room in a a mess. Photo: Lizzy Bapela
Lizzy Bapela
As if being framed by scammers was not enough, Dr Strini Naidoo has suffered another stressful encounter. The doctor suffered a break-in at his Bela-Bela surgery, the first in his 17 years of operation in the town. The doctor told The BEAT that he had received a call from local police on the afternoon of Saturday, 31 January, informing him of the incident. He was told that a mentally disturbed man broke down the doors to his surgery, locked himself in the medicine room and started taking pills. The man was in possession of an axe and a pick-axe handle, which he used to gain entry to the surgery, and suffered cuts to his head by entering through the broken glass. The police informed the doctor that they needed to use pepper-spray in order to take him into custody. “Rumour has it that the man was jailed for 20 years, and he is definitely not well,” said Dr Naidoo. “I need to find out about his state of mind and try to find reasons to his actions. The police attending the scene said that he was detained the same day, and was rushed to the local hospital when he started vomiting during the night.” The patients had to queue outside the surgery to allow space for the maintenance people to fix the damaged parts of the property. Dr Naidoo said that the damage to property was estimated at R150 000 and that the incident has left him saddened. Surgery employees also expressed their disappointment that the incident occurred when they reported for duty on Monday, 2 February, saying that it was a shocking scene. Bela-Bela police spokesperson Constable Glen Manamela said that no case had been opened with the police, and that she was not aware of the incident. At the time of going to press, the doctor was still waiting for feedback from the police regarding the matter.
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