I was not surprised by the brutality of the Sunnyside, Pretoria, police when I read last Thursday's newspaper about the way they beat a woman until she went into a coma.

I was not surprised by the brutality of the Sunnyside, Pretoria, police when I read last Thursday's newspaper about the way they beat a woman until she went into a coma.

The way the police behave when arresting suspected criminals is not acceptable and should be strongly condemned.

I have also witnessed police brutality. But the irony was that when the person who was beaten tried to open a case, the police opened a counter charge against him, claiming that he had attacked them, which was not true.

When the case went to court, the magistrate withdrew the charges because of a lack of evidence. The truth is the man was not fighting the police, but he was beaten and wrongfully arrested.

Whenever a police officer is killed there is an outcry. Even the national commissioner will talk to the media about how wrong it is to kill police officers.

But when it is the alleged criminal who is beaten or killed, they say nothing.

The police should only use force when it is necessary and should never beat a woman.

I hope the police officers who did this to the woman are prosecuted. Also, let their punishment be a warning to other police officers that they are not above the law.

Mariuz Motshwane, Witbank