Man sues police minister after wrongful
arrest, rape
3 June 2013 9:12
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.
According to documents
handed in at the North Gauteng 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,
Afrikaans daily Beeld reported today.
According to the victim’s
lawyer, Robert van Wyk, his client, who lived in Brooklyn and was expected to
testify today, was extremely traumatised and humiliated by the attacks.
He reportedly had to
undergo three courses of antiretroviral 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.
