Taxpayers’ money may once again be used to pay out damages in a case of police brutality.
This time, the case involves a female pawn shop assistant who was falsely accused of dealing in stolen goods then locked up in a “steaming” hot police van for several hours with two male suspects.
Erika Schutte, who works for the Witbank Pawnshop, instituted a R365 000 damages claim against the Minister of Safety and Security after her harrowing ordeal in November 2007 at the hands of the Breyton police.
She stated in court papers that her nightmare began on the morning of November 8, 2007 when she was arrested at the shop by the police. According to her, they bundled her into a “steaming” hot police van, which had all its windows closed, allowing no ventilation.
Schutte said she was locked up in the vehicle for about four hours, together with two male suspects.
There were also no police officers present to protect her if anything went wrong.
Schutte said she pleaded with the police not to lock her up with the male suspects, but she was accused of being a “fascist”. She was taken to the local police station, where she was detained for several more hours, before she was freed.
Schutte said that during her detention the police swore at her, threatened her with violence and that they formed a circle around her, while some of the cops slapped her on her shoulder.
The woman further stated that the police threatened to detain her at the police station, together with male suspects. She felt so powerless that she burst into tears and cried bitterly while being detained.
One of the police officials felt sorry for her and released her from the holding cell to give her anti-headache pills, after which she was locked up again. Schutte was freed later that afternoon, without any charges being brought against her.
She stated that she was so traumatised by what happened to her, that she had to receive psychological counselling.
She battles to sleep since her ordeal and no longer trusts strangers, struggling even to communicate with friends and family. It was further stated that she will have to continue receiving psychological counselling for some time and she has to use related medication.
Her psychologist, in a report submitted to court, stated the traumatic events caused her to be in a state of shock, after which she sank into a deep depression. According to the report, her dignity has been impaired by the brutal conduct of the police by leaving her in the steaming vehicle for hours and by belittling her.
Schutte told her therapist that she was “shattered” when she was accused of being a “fascist” and that she felt totally powerless when her employer could not even protect her against the police.
She said when she was locked up in a cell, her co-detainees kept on asking her what she had done wrong. She could not tell them as she did not know. She instead burst into tears from the “bizarreness” of the situation.
The police, in their notice to defend the action, simply said her arrest and detention was above board and they denied that they had assaulted the woman. - Pretoria News