You might have seen the snapshot showing the moment right after Gregory Dunn allegedly sprayed Thandabantu Plaatjie in the face with pepper spray.

Shared on social media by Renee Venter last week, the image shows Plaatjie standing between cars at a Claremont junction with his hands over his face.

Now, with the help of Venter, he aims to lay criminal charges.

Plaatjie, 36, has been standing at the intersection for two years, ever since he moved to the City from Alice, Eastern Cape. He collects rubbish from motorists and disposes of it for “whatever they feel like,” reports Times LIVE.

He said he is hurt and felt stripped of his dignity:

I expected the motorist to give me money but he lowered his window and drenched me with pepper spray.

I could not see anything afterwards and then one of the guys who sells jokes here helped me off the road. He washed my eyes with water. After that a white woman came to me and said she saw everything .

She took down his registration number and took a picture of him.

Plaatjie said the woman gave him R100:

My eyes were burning. I can’t even recognise him. I was very hurt but I hope that, with his details, I will be able to report him to the police. I have been doing this for two years and I have never caused any trouble.

Venter, the women who helped him, said she was waiting in traffic when she saw the incident.

I saw the homeless man standing at the bakkie and the driver had his window open. I saw that they were talking and all of a sudden I saw the driver stick his arm out of the window holding a small white canister with a nozzle.

I saw him spray something into the man’s face and he immediately stepped back and started clutching his eyes. Another man handing out pamphlets went to him and was trying to help him to the side of the road.

I don’t know what was in that canister but the man definitely sprayed something into his eyes.

Here’s the image:

However, Dunn denied he sprayed Plaatjie:

I didn’t spray him with pepper spray. He put his hands inside my car so I chased him away.

That’s just not ayoba to treat another person like that, not at all.

[source:timeslive]