Falsely accused for *****ing at Foschini Eikestad Mall Stellenbosch

I arrived at Foschini Eikestad Mall at approximately 16:30pm on the 16th of Aug 2017. I tried on two pairs of jeans and two tops. I took these items and went to the changing rooms. When I arrived, no one was available to provide me with a number tag, because of this I decided to wait for someone to arrive. A Foschini staff member (female) arrived to provide assistance, count my clothes and gave me a number tag. I subsequently went in to the fitting room and tried on the clothes. When I was finished, I left the changing room and noticed that a staff member was not available and that the entrance was cordoned off. Instead of leaving, I waited for a staff member to return the clothes and tag to. I was not aware of any tags in the room when I arrived, nor when I left. Eventually (after 5 minutes) the same employee took the clothes and the tag and counted the items, ensuring nothing was missing. As I was heading back into the clothes section she aggressively grabbed my arm, shouting at me in front of everyone in the vicinity and asking “What did you do?” and “What do you think you are doing?”. Surprised, I followed her to the fitting rooms and she showed me a tag lying on the floor. She insinuatingly asked why I took the tag off the clothing. I was surprised as I do not remember if the tag was there before I came into the room, nor if it fell from the clothes during fitting. I asked them to check the clothes again to see if the tag was missing from the clothes I had tried on or perhaps if there was a hole in one of the items of clothes from trying to remove the tag. They did not check the clothing after my request as I believe this would have cleared up any confusion. They proceeded to check my bag to see if I had any tools with which I could have used to break the tag; they found nothing. They even went as far as asking me to take off my clothes, which I reluctantly agreed to as I knew I had nothing to hide.

I was very upset and crying throughout the entire experience while the shop assistant proceeded to ask me why am I crying (as if it is normal to be accused of *****ing and be naked in front of someone because you are trying to prove your innocence). I was ridiculed in the presence of staff, security and fellow customers.

The absolutely derogatory comments which I received from the staff included, “Have you ever bought clothes from Foschini before?” - Ironically, most of my wardrobe has been purchased from Foschini. The bag I was carrying, the boots and the lipstick I was wearing were all purchased from Foschini.

I was crying the whole time, because I was in the centre of everyone. Everyone had something nasty to say about me and people in the shop came over to see the “*****”. I have never been so humiliated and embarrassed in my entire life. Every time I close my eyes I see the whole event in front of my eyes. I still cry whenever I think about it or telling someone what had happened. I feel as if this incident has labelled me as a ******** in the eyes of others that witnessed the event and that these people could easily point me out in public further proliferating the accusation.

I do not think I will ever be ready to go to back to any store within the area after everything that happened that day. Those people looked at me with shame and it felt as if they were sick of me. They looked disgusted. They did not want to listen to anything which I had said. Their opinions were the only relevant account of what had transpired, no one cared to listen to my side of the story. Even when they let me go, they were not convinced of my innocence. There were even comments from the staff that I should be banned from the store