No pens, no help, says Cape cops

A robbery victim was left fuming when cops refused to take her statement because they had no pens.

Cape Town - A robbery victim was left fuming when cops refused to take her statement because they had no pens.

And when the Daily Voice visited the cop shop on Thursday to give them a box of free pens, they refused to accept it.

Hailey Callaghan, 41, says she was shocked when on Monday she discovered not only had her daughter been robbed, but she was unable to open a case because an officer at Milnerton Police Station told her there were no pens.

The Brooklyn family’s nightmare began when Shannon, 19, was robbed of her cellphone on Monday morning in Milnerton.

Hailey says: “When she (Shannon) went to the (police) station an officer gave her a form and told her to fill it in at home because there were no pens.

“Today [Wednesday] I came with her to make sure a case is opened because we need a case number for insurance purposes and to find out what actually happened.

“The station commander told me the officer in question was a volunteer and could therefore not be reprimanded.

“This is ridiculous, I’m still not happy with this matter.”

The Daily Voice tried to assist by giving the cops a free box of pens.

But Milnerton’s spokeswoman, Warrant Officer Daphne O’Reilly politely declined, saying there was no shortage of pens at the station.

O’Reilly says: “We unfortunately cannot accept the pens, I have instructions from the provincial office not to allow any handover of pens.

“We are dealing with the family of that incident to try and sort it out.”

Hailey, however, gladly accepted the pens and promised to circulate it outside the station to save other complainants a similar headache.

“Thank you Daily Voice, I will bring a pen next time and distribute them,” says Hailey.

Daily Voice

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