CAPE TOWN - The Independent Investigative Police Directorate has launched a probe after police officers allegedly assaulted a young Delft mother.
The woman has laid charges against the five police officers.
She says the officers approached her home looking for drugs.
And after failing to find the drugs, they still threw her into a police van and made her sleep in a police cell for three nights over the Easter Weekend.
The IPID is pursuing a case of assault GBH.
Alida Dudley says she and her family were enjoying Easter Saturday outside with neighbours when police arrived in three vehicles.
She says they demanded to search the inside of the house for illegal items, including drugs.
When she and her husband requested a search warrant, the officers became verbally abusive.
She challenged them.
She said the three female officers were the main instigators of the assault.
They went on to search the house but found nothing.
She said her little boy witnessed the police assaulting her.
Dudley was then thrown into a police van and had to sleep in the cells for three nights until her court appearance on Tuesday, 7 April.
But upon arrival at court, she was told she could go home.
While she was relieved to finally go home to her family, she says she’ll never forget what happened.
Police have confirmed that a case of assault GBH involving police officers has been opened and transferred to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate for further investigation.
- eNCA's Ayesha Ismail reports.