Durban - A businessman who claimed he was shot by police, arrested and detained for a crime he did not commit has won his case for damages in the Durban High Court.
Despite finding that there were “two mutually destructive versions” of what happened, Judge Rashid Vahed recently ruled in favour of Lindinkosi Zulu who sued the minister of police and two police officers who shot him in Umlazi in 2008.
He ordered that the police were liable to compensate him for damages and the costs of the trial.
The amount of damages to be paid will be decided in another case.
Judge Vahed said neither the officers’ nor Zulu’s version was improbable, but the police had failed to show that the shooting had been “reasonably and legitimately required” and that the officers’ actions had been reasonable and justifiable.
Zulu, 43, who owned a construction company at the time of the incident, sued the police for damages for pain and suffering, for wrongful arrest, detention and malicious prosecution. In his evidence he claimed that he had been driving on the Mangosuthu Highway on the evening of March 24 when his car crashed into a light pole.
After he got out of the vehicle, police officers shot at him and then arrested him.
Zulu was charged with attempted murder as the officers claimed that he had opened fire first, but he was not prosecuted for the crime.
One of the officers who testified, John Chapman, was on patrol duty in Umlazi with his partner, Hendrik Steyn, when they saw an Opel Kadett collide with a blue Nissan.
When the Kadett sped off after the crash, Steyn gave chase after activating the police vehicle’s siren and blue flashing lights.
He said the vehicle then crashed into a light pole and the driver of the vehicle, who was later identified as Zulu, climbed out of the window and fired in his direction.
Chapman said he returned fire and the person ran away and was arrested after other police officers arrived. A firearm was found in the Kadett.
Under cross-examination, Steyn conceded that he had not seen the Kadett collide with the Nissan but heard the sound of screeching tyres.
He also could not explain why Zulu had only been charged with attempted murder and not for any crimes related to the initial accident with the Nissan.
Steyn’s testimony was similar to Chapman’s version, except he had not seen the initial collision with the Nissan.
Zulu denied that his car had crashed into the Nissan and said his vehicle had crashed into the light pole after he had swerved to avoid colliding with a taxi.
He said he had seen the police vehicle with the flashing blue lights behind him before the crash and had been walking from the car when he heard gunshots.
He denied shooting at the police and said the firearm was licensed in his name and had been kept under the driver’s seat.
The judge found that Chapman had not seen the first crash. He also found that while both officers claimed to have seen the “muzzle flash”, there was no damage to their vehicle or evidence to show that the shot was fired in their direction. The officers’ immediate reaction was to open fire, each firing several times.
The Mercury