Durban — A Pietermaritzburg man who is unemployed and had hoped to sustain his family through hunting was demanding answers from the Mountain Rise Police Station over two unreturned rifles seized by police.
Nearly three years ago Darryl Simon’s 9mm Glock and two rifles were seized as he faced charges of assault GBH, attempted murder, and discharging a firearm in public.
However, the charges were dropped and he was deemed by the court to be fit to carry a firearm. Simon, a dedicated hunter has since then been in a battle to get his rifles back from the State.
At the time of investigation the three guns were to be taken to Amanzimtoti (now eManzimtoti) for ballistics testing; however only his Glock was returned to him.
He said he had already missed two hunting trips and explained that being a dedicated sportsman, one needs practice and he had booked the trips for that.
“I have lost a lot of money because these trips are non-refundable. I have a lot of farms where I have been given permission to hunt. I was looking at hunting as a way to sustain my family, because my wife was also retrenched about four years ago.
“Those missing guns are money for me, but right now they are not helping my family in any way. I even bought a machine to cut the meat up, bought an abattoir machine to make mince and wors, and bought a biltong maker. I was going full throttle into this thing, trying to sustain my family.”
Simon said his rifles had been “brand new, only three months old”, after having bought them with some of his provident fund money following his retrenchment.
Simon said one rifle cost R15 000 and the other just under R10 000, adding that fortunately before they were seized he removed the scopes. Simon said the combined value of the scopes was about R8 000.
“I have tirelessly at least twice a month sent emails to them: this helped a bit to a certain degree, but with Mountain Rise being under review there have been a lot of stories pertaining to their evidence room, where there are allegations that stuff went missing. Some officers from the police station have told me they did see my firearms there.”
In November, the Daily News reported that cash handed in as an exhibit had gone missing from the Mountain Rise police station’s evidence room – a sum of more than R100 000 was handed over in six bags.
In December, this publication reported that following a tally of the cash in the exhibit room, it was found that more cash was missing, this time R120 000.
Simon said when his firearms were seized, the Glock had been in a case and the rifles in bags.
“I found that the two rifle bags were still at the station, however they were empty, and when they brought my Glock, they gave it to me in a plastic bag and I demanded the case.”
Simon said he had learned from police that eManzimtoti was sticking to its guns that they had received only the Glock for ballistics, not the rifles.
“I don’t understand why the rifles were taken in any case, because these firearms were not in question in relation to the charges I was facing. Till today, I have not had anybody get back to me regarding my two rifles.”
Explaining how he came to be criminally charged, Simon said he had been attacked by members of the community while his wife and daughter were present.
He said his daughter got a protection order against the people who had attacked them; however, he found himself wrongfully accused of assault and attempted murder by the attackers.
Simon said following this he went to the Mountain Rise police station and signed documents to have his firearms returned to him.
“All three firearms were meant to be released to me but only the Glock was given back.”
Police were sent a query on the matter on January 15,16, 17, 30 and 31, as well as on Wednesday this week. No response has been forthcoming.
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