Pretoria - A librarian, raped while on duty at a community library, not only received the cold shoulder from her employer but was also left out of pocket.
Norman Davis SC told the high court in Pretoria the victim’s bid to sue her employer for damages merely resulted in her being saddled with a hefty legal bill.
Davis was heading the legal team assisting the woman in appealing against a costs order against her.
The victim sued the City of Matlosana (formerly Klerksdorp) for damages after she was raped at 9am in July 2008 at the library.
The woman, who cannot be identified, blamed her employer for the incident, as she had, time and again over a number of years, complained about the unsafe working conditions.
She reported incidents of crime at the library, including staff being mugged, assaulted, threatened and various burglaries at the premises.
In September 2002, she suffered an attempted rape and continued pleading with her employer to improve security measures. Her requests fell on deaf ears until she was raped in July 2008.
She instituted a damages claim against her employer, arguing the incident was caused by the gross negligence of the city, as it knew the premises were a safety risk, yet it did nothing to improve matters.
Her employer, defending the action, at first simply denied the rape took place. It later added that if the court found she was raped, it was not her employer’s fault as it could not have foreseen the incident.
In yet another plea, the city still denied the rape, but said in the event the court found the woman had been raped, it must be found she was negligent, as she had failed to protect herself from attack.
On Wednesday Davis told the court the city continued to deny liability until just a few days before the matter was due to go to trial. The municipality’s legal team had a about-turn at the last minute, and admitted the rape.
But in a bid to escape liability, it said it had instituted an occupational injury claim at the Compensation Commissioner. The city described the rape as “an injury on duty”. The result of this was that the court case had to be delayed, pending the outcome of that hearing.
Nothing came of this and by the time the case was due back in court, the victim was out of money and, on the “wrong” advice of her former lawyer, she withdrew the claim.
Her employer obtained an order in terms of which she was liable for all the legal costs incurred over the years - hers and that of the city.
Davis turned to a full bench - three judges - to appeal against the costs order. It was not the victim’s fault that she did not go ahead with proceedings, he said, also cited case law stating that rape was not an “accident” in the Compensation Act.
Judgment was reserved.
Pretoria News