A night to remember...

I didn't write about this last week for 2 reasons. Firstly, I was too tired to even think and secondly, I guess i was in a state of shock...

On Thursday night, Rosanne was arrested. Yes, my innocent 22-year old baby sister was thrown into the back of a police van and carted off to jail. There are no words to explain the feeling of getting the call to say that someone you love has done something so wrong. To put matters straight from the start, she ended up being proved innocent, but still - what an ordeal! She'd been down at a party at the Edgemead Cricket club with some friends and the cops had been sitting in the parking area, waiting for people to leave. They obviously saw 3 young girls leaving and getting into a car and assumed that they'd been consuming copious amounts of alcohol. Rosanne was driving and they drove along the back roads to another friend's house, about 4 streets away. As she was about to pull up, she saw blue lights and was told to get out of her car. She did as she was instructed. The policeman asked her if she'd been drinking, she said no; he asked if she was sure, she told him she'd had one cider. He then told her that he could see that she was drunk and that she needed to go with him to the Bothasig police station. She told him she wasn't going with him and he asked her again to get in the van. She repeated that she wasn't going with him, at which he twisted her arm and told her not to resist arrest. She got in the back of his van on her own (wasn't allowed to take a friend with) and off they went. At this point, her friends phoned her boyfriend (he'd gone home, because he'd worked late) and then me. I was at Canal Walk with my mom, raced home to pick up my dad and my parents went off to the police station to see what was going on. Rosie was sitting behind the counter and wasn't allowed any contact with her "visitors". The police had given her forms to fill in and sign (she delayed things, wanting my parents to get there, saying she wasn't signing anything until she'd read through it) and a proper docket was opened. Then they told her they needed to take her off for testing - to some place down the N2. They cuffed her (she could choose between going in the back of the van again or being cuffed) and took her away...

Her trip in a police car was hair raising to say the least. They made her sit in the middle of the back seat, between the two seats and she wasn't allowed a seat belt, he drove like a maniac, going through red robots and talking on his cell phone, swearing non-stop - all the while throwing Rosanne around on the back seat. With her hands cuffed, she couldn't catch herself. When they got to wherever they went down the N2, she was asked by another policeman if she knew why she was there and she said yes; he asked why and she told him she was there for drinking 2 ciders in 2 hours. This policeman was NOT impressed with the officers from the Bothasig police station and was even less impressed with them when Rosanne's breath test came out at 0.00% on two seperate tests completed on two different machines. She was stone cold sober.

Back to Bothasig and papers were completed for her release. We're waiting to hear from the public prosecutor now to see whether it will go to court. I'm sure it won't since her tests showed no trace of alcohol...

There are so many reasons in this story to be angry over - firstly, in today's world of modern technology, why don't police carry portable breathalizers? Aren't there on site tests they can do before dragging someone off to jail? Secondly, in South African, you hear stories of how criminals pretend to be police men and take you off to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what to you. Surely they could've let a friend go with Rosanne for safety? Thirdly, don't our policemen have better things to do with their time? One policeman actually told my mother that they had a target to reach by the end of the month. Surely, going after taxi drivers or burglars or murderers would make our country a safer place. I know two elderly people from Switzerland who are here on holiday and were mugged last week on the beach in Hout Bay - wouldn't it be a better idea to protect the public? I realise that drunken driving is a very serious offence and one that most of the South African public don't take very seriously. I realise that it is imporatnt to keep our roads safe, but surely someone who does this as a profession, knows what a drunk person looks like! What right do they have to arrest you under suspicion like this? It was a total waste of everyone's time...

Either way, Rosanne is extremely embarrassed about it and we have all learnt a huge lesson from her experience. I won't drink any amount of alcohol if I am driving anywhere. The thought of spending a night in one of our prisons is just too scary.

Besides that, we had a nice weekend, it was just very busy. Jake's much better, but sprained his ankle at school on Thursday so he's hobbling everywhere. He's slept really badly because of it. Yesterday afternoon, he took himself to my room and just passed out on my bed. I found him fast aslep. I ended up accidentally falling asleep on the couch waiting for him to wake up. We missed Rowan's birthday party because of it (sorry, Suzaan!). Jake very rarely sleeps during the day and I know when he does pass out, if I wake him up, I'm goign to pay for it for the rest of the day. Normally, if he does have a nap, it's for an hour, yesterday he slept for 2 hours 15 mins!!!! Which was just as well, because his grandparents came for a braai last night and he only got to bed at 10:45.

Hope everyone else had great weekends!

XXX

PS. Forgive me for any mistakes here - I'm just too tired to re-read it all.