Corrupt police officers are costing taxpayers dearly. This time, in the case of two SAPS members subjecting two women to a nightmare ordeal and trying to bribe them.
The court has ordered that the Minister of Police has to pay damages to the women.
It was second time lucky for Helga Muller and her friend, Yolandi Bell, after the lower court had turned down their claim.
The judge at the time acknowledged their ordeal at the hands of the officers, but concluded that the minister could not be held vicariously liable for the conduct of his officers.
But on appeal to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Judge Anthony Millar, in a judgment concurred by Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba and another judge, ordered that the minister was indeed liable for the damages suffered by the women.
During the late evening of April 27, 2017, the appellants were driving in a vehicle in the area of John Vorster Avenue in Centurion. They were pulled over by SAPS members.
Muller testified that she had been the driver of the vehicle in which Bell was a passenger. They had been on their way home that evening. While driving, she had noticed a police vehicle behind her that had its brights on.
She had put her hazard lights on to signal to them to switch off the bright lights as she could not look in her mirrors as their lights were blinding her. The bright lights on the police vehicle had then been switched off and the blue lights witched on.
She had pulled her car over to the side of the road and remained in the car. Two police officers had approached them.
Muller had spoken to the female officer and she has been asked where she was going and where she lived. The female officer had told her that she was from Hammanskraal and that the two police stations (Lyttleton and Hammanskraal) were working together to combat drunk driving on Wednesdays and Fridays.
She had told Muller to take a breathalyser test and after administering the test, told her that she was over the alcohol limit. When Muller had asked to see the reading, the officer had refused.
Muller had been told that she would have to go with the officer in the police vehicle and that the male police officer would drive her vehicle with Bell inside it.
The female officer had grabbed Muller by the arm and forcefully pulled her towards the police vehicle.
She said the officer had been driving recklessly, through red traffic lights. She had then informed her that they would not be going to Lyttleton police station because it was full and would be taken to Sunnyside police station instead.
It has been at that juncture when the female officer had begun driving very slowly. Muller had been trying to phone her father, but the officer had told her that no one could help her except her (the officer).
They had latter told Muller that she had to post R6 000 bail, but in order to avoid being taken to Sunnyside police station, Muller had to give her R6 000.
Muller had told her that she was not prepared to pay a bribe and the officer informed had her that if she did not, she would be locked up.
The officer had then reduced the “bail” to R2 000 and pulled the vehicle over.
Muller said: “I started panicking because I know the Sunnyside area and I was so scared that she would in fact take me there.”
The officer had said Muller had to go to an ATM to get the money and that she and her colleague would release Bell only once they had the money.
“She then said I can get into my car, go to the ATM because I have to come back with the R2 000, otherwise it is Sunnyside for me. She said if I do not come back, she is going to take my friend to Sunnyside. So, I should not have any ideas to leave.”
When Muller had returned with the money, she was told to put the money in the cubbyhole of the SAPS vehicle.
The female officer had then given her her keys and told her to go home. Muller had refused. She testified that she had feared that once she got behind the wheel of her vehicle, she would be subjected to the same treatment again.
She had asked the police officer to drive her home.
Muller said the journey to her home had been harrowing as the officer had sped and had not bothered to stop at red traffic lights. Bell had been in her car as the male officer followed them.
Muller testified that she and Bell had been detained for about four hours.
“I have honestly never been that scared in my entire life, because I was unsure of what the next step was going to be, because I could not go to Sunnyside. I knew how dangerous it was there, and she kept on threatening me with it,” Muller told the court.
She said that just the sight of a police or traffic officer brought on a panic attack.
“I do not think I will ever be able to phone the police if anything else ever happens to me. I do not trust that system at all anymore, not after being held against my will for four hours in the winter, just so that she could get R2 000.”
Bell told a similar story.
The police, however, had closed their case without calling a single witness.
Judge Millar said the evidence established that two police officers on patrol had stopped the appellants. Muller had been arrested and Bell detained. It was also clear that payment had been extorted from Muller.
It was obvious and undisputed that throughout the course of events, the officers had represented themselves as police officers, exercised police powers of arrest and detention and arrested and detained Muller and Bell respectively, before escorting them home.
Judge Millar said the magistrate was thus wrong in his finding that the minister could not be held vicariously liable for the conduct of his officers.
The minister was ordered to pay Muller R102 000 in damages and Bell R70 000.
ZELDA VENTER