Police
ministry appeals R1m culpability judgment
October 8 2012 at 09:00am
BRENDAN ROANE
brendan.roane@inl.co.za
MORE than seven years
since the unlawful shooting and arrest of an innocent man, the three Tembisa
police officers implicated in the incident are still on duty.
Now the
police ministry is set to appeal against the R1 million in damages awarded to a
former forklift driver at OR Tambo International Airport Michael Lamola, who
was badly injured and spent nearly a year in jail on trumped-up charges.
Lamola
was shot by police who accused him of attempting to break into a house in
Tembisa and trying to steal one of the officers’ firearms in April 2005.
He was
acquitted in March 2006. His version of events, accepted by the Johannesburg
High Court in 2010, was that he was shot while fleeing people he believed were
trying to rob him.
He was
in custody from his arrest until his acquittal, part of the time in hospital.
Gauteng
police spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini confirmed all three
officers are still employed by the SAPS and were never suspended.
Constable
Charles Lefading allegedly shot Lamola, Sergeant Kedishi Maloba arrested him
and Inspector HP Nkwenyeka was the investigating officer, according to a
culpability judgment in the Johannesburg High Court in February 2010.
Nkwenyeka
and Lefading are stationed in Tembisa, while Maloba is at Olifantsfontein
police station. None faced criminal charges.
Lamola
was shot in the chest, spent two weeks in hospital and suffered “serious pain”,
said Judge Roland Sutherland’s judgment regarding damages.
Lamola
told the high court that the shooting left him with “permanent disfigurement”,
scarring by the bullet and subsequent surgery, and hernias developed over the
scars.
He is
now unable to do the heavy physical labour his job requires.
“In
hospital he was treated like a criminal and shackled, which was especially
humiliating,” said Judge Sutherland.
Judge
Dimpheletse Seun Moshidi’s culpability judgment into the conduct of the
officers found that Lefading’s shooting of Lamola was “not only intentional and
unlawful, but also undoubtedly premature”.
The
officers claimed in court that Lamola tried to grab Maloba’s firearm and that
he was shot by Lefading to protect his fellow officer, a version which Judge
Moshidi dismissed.
Maloba
then “instituted the criminal proceedings against the plaintiff, with malice
and without reasonable and probable cause”, said Judge Moshidi. This and
Lamola’s detention were unlawful, said the the judge.
Nkwenyeka
was found to have incorrectly investigated the case, including taking a warning
statement from Lamola while he was “incoherent” in hospital and then signed the
statement on Lamola’s behalf.
Judge
Sutherland’s damages judgment further criticised the officers’ conduct.
“Lamola
was put through a trial in which he had to face lying policemen who, not only
having shot him recklessly, were now bent on covering up their ‘mistake’ by
falsely concocting an allegation of housebreaking and of an attempted robbery
of a firearm,” said Judge Sutherland.
In
July, Judge Sutherland awarded Lamola R1 055 981 in damages, to be paid by the
Police Ministry.
This
includes R400 000 for general damages, R244 769 for future medical expenses,
R177 707 for loss of past earnings and R233 505 for loss of future earnings.
The
ministry intends appealing as it believes that R400 000 for general damages is
“excessive”, said spokesman Zweli Mnisi.
He said
Lamola failed to prove loss of earnings and they would also challenge this
amount.
“The
minister has asked the National Police Commissioner to look into issues of
litigations as a matter of urgency and to identify training needs for the
police, to avert things like wrongful arrests,” said Mnisi.
