Citizen wins case against police unlawful arrest
Rugby’ dad awarded R35 000 Rademeyer claimed damages for his unlawful arrest and deprivation of freedom, his legal costs, malicious prosecution and the damage to his good name and reputation.
25 November 2010 | ILSE DE LANGE
A Pretoria father, whose night out after a Currie Cup rugby game ended with him being locked up in a police cell with the man who allegedly stole his son’s cellphone, has been awarded R35 000 damages. In terms of a settlement in the North Gauteng High Court, the Police Minister agreed to pay the amount to Thys Rademeyer, 53, of Arcadia, Pretoria, and to pay for his legal costs. Rademeyer initially instituted a damages claim of over R360 000 against the police after being arrested outside the Loftus stadium in Pretoria in July 2006 and spending several hours in a cell at the Sunnyside police station with a suspected cellphone thief.
He was released on R1 000 bail the next day and charged with assaulting a policeman and interfering in police duties, but all charges were later withdrawn against him. Rademeyer claimed damages for his unlawful arrest and deprivation of freedom, his legal costs, malicious prosecution and the damage to his good name and reputation. In court papers, police admitted that Rademeyer was arrested, but said this was necessary because he had assaulted a police constable. Rademeyer said he and a group of friends, including his son Thys Jnr, had visited the Sin Bin restaurant after watching the Currie Cup game between Western Province and the Blue Bulls at Loftus that day. They were on their way to their cars when his son’s cellphone was stolen. His son and some of his friends gave chase.
Rademeyer was not aware that the police had, in the meantime, chased the suspected thief and recovered his son’s cellphone. When his son returned, pointed to a police van and told him “they” had recovered his cellphone, Rademeyer went to talk to the police to find out what was going on when a policeman suddenly jumped out of the van and ran at him. According to Rademeyer, he pushed the policeman out of the way, causing him to fall, in a reflex reaction because he had not expected anything like that to happen. However, Constable Lucky Maluleka, said in a statement that Rademeyer had been aggressive. He had grabbed him by his uniform, pushed him and slapped him. He said he had to call for back-up to arrest Rademeyer.
Courtesy - CITIZEN NEWSPAPER
http://www.citizen.co.za/citizen/content/en/citizen/local-news?oid=153394&sn=Detail&pid=800&%E2%80%98Rugby%E2%80%99-dad-awarded-R35-000-
