Durban - Still labelled a “drug dealer” four years after what the police later conceded had been his unlawful arrest and detention, a Phoenix father has been awarded more than R220 000 in damages by a Durban High Court judge.
Last year lawyers acting for the minister of safety and security conceded liability in the case brought by Jarred Reddy.
On the issue of how much they should pay, they did not place any evidence before Judge Jacqui Henriques, leaving Reddy’s evidence about what had happened on July 13 and 14, 2011, when he was just 21, unchallenged.
Highlighting the “salient points” in her judgment handed down this week, the judge said Reddy told how he had been assaulted and sworn at by policemen in front of his parents, disabled sister, wife and child at his Clayfield Drive home.
“He was repeatedly slapped across the face. He witnessed his mother being assaulted and his disabled sister struggling with a policeman over her cellphone. They were also both bodily searched by a male policeman,” the judge said.
Reddy was taken outside and again assaulted in view of neighbours.
His wife was ordered to remove his shoelaces while he stood there, handcuffed, accused of being a drug dealer.
After being forced to sign a document at a local pharmacy purportedly reflecting the weight of dagga found at his home, he was detained at the Phoenix police station, placed in a cell with human faeces and urine, deprived of food and water, and assaulted by a fellow inmate.
A J88 form (of a medical examination) completed by a doctor went missing from the docket, but Reddy said it had noted that he had bruises and abrasions, a swollen eye and face and a hand print on his back.
The police claimed that he had sustained these by running into a door while trying to escape arrest.
Reddy said, in spite of being exonerated of all charges, the stigma lingered and he was referred to as “drug dealer Jarred” in the neighbourhood where he lived. Even family and friends, if they lost their way and asked for directions from locals, were asked if they were referring to the drug dealer’s house.
Trial judges had a discretion to award fair and adequate compensation, Judge Henriques said.
In this regard, she agreed with Reddy’s advocate, Ryan Naidu, that the assault - rather than the arrest and detention - stood out as an aggravating feature and the court should display its displeasure for this.
She said, however, that because one amount had been asked for, she would not separate it.
“In absence of any explanation from the police as to their conduct, it is my view that they acted improperly and with malice,” she said, awarding damages of R175 000 and a further R5 300 - the value of a Sony camera and cash which were stolen on the day of Reddy’s arrest.
She also ordered the police to pay R40 000 to cover the legal expenses he incurred for his criminal matter after his arrest and to pay the still-to-be determined costs of his civil matter.
The Mercury