Family puzzled about hanging incident at Douglasdale Police station

Christopher Lockyer (22) was arrested on Friday night, August 26, for being drunk in public after an apparent altercation with police officers who had stopped the vehicle he and his friends were travelling in. He was taken to the holding cells at Douglasdale Police Station, he then hung himself with a T-shirt the same night.

Lockyer was discovered dead in the cell by a policeman at about 1am on Saturday. Police attempted to resuscitate Lockyer and paramedics were called to the scene. Unfortunately after numerous attempts to resuscitate him he was declared dead.

Lockyer’s sister’s fiancée, JP van Tonder, was allowed to view CCTV footage taken in the cell where Lockyer died and was satisfied that there was no foul play.
“He was supposed to have been watched, but he had enough time to put knots in his T-shirt and place it over a railing,” said Van Tonder.

Douglasdale police spokesman Warrant Officer Balan Muthan said, "We are considering shortening the rotation times to 30 minutes and posting a member outside the holding cells." It is sad he decided to end his life, he would have been released with a fine or warning to appear in court,” added Muthan

What puzzles Lockyer’s friends and family is that he had just secured a job on a cruise ship and was meant to start in November. His friends said that on Friday night that was all he was talking about, he was so excited.

The Independent Complaints Directorate will investigate the death.
This is the second suicide to occur at the Douglasdale police station in two months. A 29-year-old man hanged himself in a holding cell, using his trousers, on June 4, 2011.