Pretoria - Rightwinger Willem Ratte and four other men arrested more than four years ago on a farm near eMalahleni on a variety of charges, lost their multimillion rand damages claim against the police for unlawful arrest and detention.
Ratte, who had earlier made headlines when he was arrested on other rightwing-related charges and had goneon a long hunger strike, was arrested on the farm in October 2010 following a police raid on the premises during which an arsenal of weapons was discovered.
Various other people on the farm, including youngsters who were said to have undergone military training on the farm, were kept in custody for various periods of time before they were released on bail.
Charges were eventually withdrawn against Ratte and four of his co-accused. This was in terms of an agreement with the State after five other men arrested on the farm that day pleaded guilty to arms and ammunition related charges.
Ratte, Petrus Visser, Wesley Bornman, Corne de Beer and Christopher Meyer subsequently instituted a claim against the police for the payment of R609 000 each in damages.
Judge Bill Prinsloo was told how about 20 armed members of the police swooped on the farm which belonged to a trust. This followed a tip-off that there was a large stash of arms and ammunition and that people were being given military training.
The police were told the aim of the training was to overthrow the government.
According to Ratte, he managed the farm and was in charge of overseeing the building of a guesthouse there.
Several young boys also underwent training in skills, such as welding, and Ratte denied that any military activities took place on the farm.
Ratte and the other four stated in papers before court that the raid and subsequent search of the farm was unlawful, as the police did not have a warrant for their arrest.
The police, in turn, said they did not have time to obtain warrants.
While the other people arrested on the farm were given bail, Ratte remained behind bars awaiting trial as he decided to withdraw his bail application. He eventually applied for and was granted bail on the advice of his lawyer.
Judge Prinsloo, in turning down the five’s claims on Thursday, said they have not proved that the police acted unlawfully.
The judge said it is clear from the evidence that the group were immediately taken to the police station after their arrest, where they met with their lawyers.
They were also told about the charges against them shortly afterwards and were not kept in the dark.
They were taken to court within the 48 hour time limit and none of them, for several days, applied for bail before a magistrate. They instead launched an urgent high court bail application which failed.
They later received bail, but Ratte opted for several weeks not to apply for bail. The judge said the police couldn’t be blamed for this, as they only did their job.
Although Ratte and his group lost their bid against the police, Judge Prinsloo ordered that each party had to pay its own legal costs.
“It can be said in a sense that they were at the wrong time at the wrong place,” he said with reference to the raid.
He pointed out that they were never prosecuted, but that charges were withdrawn against them. The judge said if regard was given to the unique circumstances of this case, it would not be fair to expect the five to pay the full bill for the 10 day trial.
Pretoria News