Emmanual Deshaine Clifton Manuel, a member of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police (EMPD), will spend the next five years behind bars for kidnapping and seriously assaulting Camillia Beyers in December 2020 in Palm Ridge, Katlehong.
After drunkenly beating and accusing Camillia of having an affair, Manuel threw her in his car while continuing to assault and threaten her with a firearm and knives. Finally, after escaping and being recaptured, Camillia got the attention of a passing police vehicle, after which Manual was forcefully arrested as he resisted cooperating. Camillia then went to a hospital where she had to wait more than 24 hours to receive treatment.
After her release from the hospital, she went to the police station to open a case against Manuel. However, she was told that a case was already opened and that she had retracted her statement, leading to it being withdrawn. Manuel was released. According to Camillia, Manuel’s family members are also cops, and one of them impersonated her in providing the false statement.
The case was reopened with the help of Action Society, and Camillia got a restraining order against Manuel, but he continued to intimidate her. Finally, two months after the incident, Manuel was rearrested for violating the restraining order. Action Society has been overseeing the case and supporting Camillia throughout the ordeal.
Manuel stayed in jail and was just sentenced to four years imprisonment for abduction and five years for assault GBH, and the sentences will run concurrently, keeping him in jail for five years. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm. He has already served one year.
Camillia said that she was unhappy with the sentence and that it was far too light for what he put her through. As a result, she lost her job, had scars on her face, and even considered giving up the case because of the intimidation she faced from Manuel and his family members.
“Even though we celebrate the fact that one more abuser is in jail and away from his victim, we are very concerned with what will happen to Camillia after Manuel is released. Five years is a slap on the wrist,” said Tshepi Mmekwa, Gauteng Action Centre coordinator at Action Society. “It is time that the courts start giving much harsher sentences for violent abusers. Our court sentencing is not victim-centred, and it should be.”
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