Pretoria man sues South
African Police Service after wrongful arrest and rape
03 Jun
2013 | Sapa
A Pretoria man who claims that
fellow detainees in police cells spent a night raping and assaulting him after
he was unlawfully arrested, is suing the minister of police for more than R1
million, Beeld reported.
Fortunately he was HIV-negative
According
to documents handed in at the High Court in Pretoria, the victim was released
unconditionally, but later in the same case re-arrested and assaulted in the
police cells for a second time, before again being released unconditionally.
According
to the victim's lawyer, Robert van Wyk, his client, who lived in Brooklyn and
was expected to testify on Monday, was extremely traumatised and humiliated by
the attacks.
He
reportedly had to undergo three courses of anti-retroviral drugs to combat HIV.
"Fortunately
he was HIV-negative," Van Wyk said.
The
victim had brought two claims against the minister of police, the first of
which, for R940,000, was due to the arrest and detention involving the alleged
rape, and the second, for R150,000, was for the second arrest and detention.
The
plaintiff was arrested on September 16, 2011 at the Rustenburg Mall on charges
of human trafficking and taken to the Rustenburg police cells, where he was
detained in a cell along with about 20 other men.
He
alleged that they stripped him, sexually assaulted him, raped, and severely
beat him until 6am the next morning.
He asked
police several times the next day to see to his needs and told them that he had
been assaulted and raped, but they reportedly did nothing, and refused to allow
him to call his family.
Police
had denied all the allegations.
