Customer harassment and assault

My mother, was physically assaulted, harassed and accused of *****ing by security staff at the Braamfontein branch on Tuesday afternoon at around 5pm.

She walked into the store with a plastic bag from clicks. There was no security at the door when she entered the store so she continued and did her shopping.

When she wanted to leave the store, the security guard was rude to her and accused her of *****ing items from the store. She tried to explain that there was no one at the door to check her items when she entered the store. He insisted that she goes upstairs to have her parcels inspected.

My mom explained that she was not fit or healthy to walk up any flight of stairs but the security guard shoved her , pushed her physically and forced her up a flight of many stairs.

Is this kind of treatment from the store even legal? It was very abusive and cruel to force an elderly women up a flight of stairs and to accuse her of *****ing. Do you even have the legal right to forcefully search a customers belongings. Do you not have detectors at your doors to avoid this kind of accusations and personal searches? My mom did not set of any alarms. What cruel process is this? What was the reason for making her walk up a flight of stairs? Did the security want to conduct a body search? Where was the store Manager and supervisor, why are you allowing security guards to treat customers this way.

I found my mom in a lot of pain and in tears. She is a loyal customer at this store but she will no longer put her foot in your store.

I am taking her to the police station to open up a case of assault , harassment wrongful accusations. I am going to take this matter to court if I have to. I want to know what Pick n Pay is going to do to remedy the situation. I want personal apologies to my mother from the security staff involved and from the store supervisor who allowed them to search my moms personal belongings in a very cruel manner.

If nothing is done to the satisfaction of my mother then we as a family and community will take the matter further. If I have to organize my friends, family and community to march against your Braamfontein store then I will. My mom is an active member of the community and trust me this matter will be escalated. I am an activist and I will not let this go unless my mother is compensated for the trauma she faced this evening and unless she gets personal apologies from the security staff and the supervisor involved.

I am sure that you have store footage to view this matter and to address this kind of demeaning before from your security staff. I will consult our family lawyer further because I don't think what was done to my mother is even legal. She was at your store at 17:05 , cashier :Primrose Malinga and her items came to the amount of R119.31 I hope to hear from Pick n Pay soon before I escalated the matter further.