Pretoria - The dream of a young Eersterus man to become an international motorbike racing champion, was dashed after his ordeal at the hands of police, who tortured him for hours in a bid to extract information from him about a hijacking he knew nothing about.
Leaan Peters, 23, who was an icon in Eersterus among the children and known as “Van Dam”, as he often took part in motor bike racing events which he usually won, was left shattered by the torture, the High Court in Pretoria heard.
He is claiming more than R850 000 in damages from the minister of police, as well as a further R284 000 for medical expenses.
A metal plate had to be inserted in his jaw after it was fractured by two policemen. Peters also suffered several other injuries and had to be admitted to hospital. He could not write his matric exams and only did so the following year.
Peters, who was a pupil at Eastside Independent High School in East Lynn, was driving his father’s car to buy food at McDonald’s in Silverton. When he stopped at a traffic light a hitchhiker asked him for a lift.
As he knew the man vaguely and was in any event heading in the same direction, he gave him a lift.
He dropped the man in Dykor Street and drove on to the fast food outlet. But, he was pulled over by a metro police officer and told to get out of the car and to put his hands on the bonnet.
Peters said he asked the officer, who was joined by members of the SAPS, what he had done wrong.
They instead cuffed his hands behind his back and forced him into a police car. He was then accused of being involved in the theft or hijacking of a Hyundai vehicle.
He was taken to where the vehicle had been hijacked and asked where it was.
He said he did not know. The police then asked him about the hitchhiker he had given a lift to. Peters said he had no details about the man, but the police did not believe him and started slapping him.
He was driven around for hours, while being kicked, punched, slapped and strangled, while the police repeatedly asked him questions about the hijacked vehicle and the whereabouts of the hitchhiker.
A Sergeant Singh then “stepped up his interrogation techniques”, the court heard and placed his pistol against Peters’s private parts. The young man was so terrified that he wet his pants. He pleaded with the police not to shoot him. “They instead continued with even more enthusiasm,” Peters said.
The police later took Peters to an isolated railway line in Silverton where a he said a plastic forensic bag was pulled over his face so that he could not breathe. He was pushed to the ground and kicked until he lost consciousness.
Peters said the pain was so intense that he could not take it anymore. He cried bitterly, asking his attackers for mercy. “I was convinced that I was going to die,” he said.
His hands were cuffed behind his back throughout the ordeal.
He was eventually taken to the Moot police station, where his parents were waiting for him.
When his father saw the state his son was in, he burst into tears.
His mother, Dawn Morris, who was an officer at the Eersterus police station, said she begged the police to take her son to hospital. They eventually took him to a district hospital where he only got pain tablets.
He remained in custody for two nights before he was taken to court, where the State refused to prosecute him due to lack of evidence.
On his release, Peters was admitted to the Wilgers Hospital, where he was operated on.
He tried to resume his motor biking career, but in 2013 broke both his legs in an accident.
Industrial psychologist Dr Pierre Brits, who is still treating Peters for trauma following his arrest, said the incident left him without any confidence and he is still traumatised.
The police at first offered a blanket denial, but on Wednesday accepted full liability. Evidence is now being led to establish how much he should receive from the police (taxpayer).
Pretoria News