Pretoria - Two members of the Valhalla community policing forum are each suing the police for R750 000, following what they say was wrongful arrest for murder. They say they were falsely implicated in the 2011 murder of 55-year-old Lucas Gwangwa.
Johan van der Schyff, 60, cried bitterly on Tuesday as he relived his nightmare after being kept in jail for more than a month.
He was arrested without a warrant and incarcerated for 36 days – first at a police station and then at Kgosi Mampuru II correctional facility – before he was released.
He is now claiming R750 000 in damages from the police for unlawful arrest.
Another member of the policing forum, diesel mechanic Gustav Botha, who was arrested for being an “accomplice” to the murder, is also claiming about R750 000.
He was locked up for about 10 days before the State withdrew charges against him.
Although the police did not concede liability, they closed their case on Tuesday without calling any witnesses to dispute the fact that the men were arrested without a warrant.
Van der Schyff and Botha’s arrests made headlines at the time, as it was claimed that they, as well as other CPF members, were involved in the killing of Gwangwa.
It was claimed that he was beaten to death “vigilante style” by members of the CPF.
Both Van der Schyff and Botha denied any knowledge of the incident and said they did not even know where the person was said to have been killed.
The police said Van der Schyff’s white bakkie was seen on the scene, but he told the court that he patrolled the neighbourhood that night in his maroon sedan.
Botha said he was at a hospital’s ICU after his son was born prematurely.
Van der Schyff told Judge Dawie Fourie that on the night of April 7, 2011, he was home with his wife when he heard police sirens outside. He went to investigate and encountered a group of SAPS members outside his gate.
They told him to follow them to the Wierdabrug police station, as he had to make a statement about an incident in which a man was assaulted the previous week.
Once at the police station, he was told to “prepare himself not to go anywhere, because the man he had assaulted had since died”.
Van der Schyff said he was never shown a warrant of arrest, but he was thrown into a police cell with various other inmates. “I feared for my life and did not sleep a wink, as I could not see in the dark cell who was with me. It could have been one of the people who I have encountered during my work with the CPF.”
He was eventually taken to court, was denied bail and was locked up for a month. The State eventually withdrew the murder charge due to a lack of evidence.
“I am bitterly disappointed in the police. I can write a book if I have to tell everything which happened to me in prison,” a near hysterical Van der Schyff testified. He is still a registered CPF member, but has not gone out on patrol since.
Botha had a similar tale to tell. He was arrested a few weeks after Van der Schyff and after the latter gave the police the names of the CPF members who were on patrol with him that night and who could vouch that he did not drive his white bakkie at the time.
Police pounded at his door around midnight and in view of his neighbours threw him into the back of a police van.
“I don’t know if I will ever again trust the police,” he said.
Botha told the court that his life had changed and that his wife was in the process of divorcing him.
Pretoria News