Johannesburg – IPID head Robert McBride has been accused of assaulting his own teenage daughter, a charge he vehemently denied in a lengthy statement issued by his spokesperson on Saturday.

The head of the police watchdog broke his silence after news broke earlier that he was being investigated for the assault of a minor child.

Speaking “with a heavy heart”, he said he decided to issue the statement after his daughter’s details were being circulated by people who had failed by other means to get rid of him.

The latest attempt was a woman who had asked him unsuccessfully to squash a traffic fine, he claimed.

“I admit that I admonished one of my daughters, whom I love very much,” said McBride.

He explained that he had become concerned about his daughter’s school marks and “somewhat rebellious” behaviour, and had admonished her, but never assaulted her.

“My daughter was seated directly behind me in the car, it would have been impossible for me to drive and ‘assault’ and ‘throttle’ her at the same time,” he said. 

“I deny that I assaulted her and that she had any injuries when I left her at home. I have already indicated to the police that I will co-operate fully with the investigation.”

McBride continued: “I would do anything for my daughter, she means everything to me.” 

‘Abduction’ 

He said a woman, who he named in his statement, allegedly took his daughter away from him without his permission, nor the permission of any official authorities such as a “guardian, teacher, doctor, district surgeon or youth counsellor”.

He said that the woman had a “long history” of opening cases against people in alleged attempts at extorting money from parents and he had recently refused to squash a traffic fine for her.

“She was upset with me for refusing to assist her to break the law.”

But the clincher, to McBride, was that she became a person of interest in an investigation the Independent Police Investigative Directorate is conducting.

He has in the meantime opened a counter investigation against the woman for the alleged abduction of his daughter, and will not say anything more about the issue.