Pretoria - Two policemen instructed to go and sort out a lovers’ tiff got more than they bargained for when one of them was instead accused by the husband as being his wife’s new lover.
The irate husband, Mamelodi resident Paul Itsweng, tried to attack his wife’s “lover” (the policeman) with a brick.
He was so angry that he chased the policeman down the road, brick in hand.
The policeman, described in the Gauteng Provincial Division of the High Court, sitting in Pretoria, as a “mild man”, fired several warning shots at Itsweng. When he still did not relent, the terrified policeman fired several shots directly at him, hitting the man, among other places, in the stomach.
However, Itsweng claimed police shot him while he was lying on the ground. He claimed damages from the police (the amount is not stated in the judgment), saying he posed no threat to any of the two policemen.
In turning down the claim on Monday, Judge Neil Tuchten found that the police had acted in self-defence.
The damages claim arose from an incident more than 17 years ago - on July 21, 1997 - but no reason was given in the judgment as to why it was only disposed of now.
The judge found Itsweng was the aggressor and was not shot while lying on the ground. The policemen at all times seemed to be meek and mild and only reacted when their lives were in danger, the judge found.
Pretoria News