A mother walked out of an upmarket department store without paying for a handbag - and it cost her 10 hours of hell.
Peruvian Carmen Winfield's ordeal ended only after she collapsed in the holding cells at Sandton police station.
And now it seems no one will take responsibility for the treatment Winfield received after she was detained at Stuttafords in Sandton City on suspicion of shoplifting - a crime that she insists she did not commit.
Carmen was shopping with her husband Steve and her daughter Taylor, two, on Sunday morning.
Carmen said she had initially gone to Stuttafords to return a pair of broken pants.
She explained: "I put a small Guess bag that I wanted to buy on top of the packet in my trolley. My husband had gone to Edgars. I was talking with him on the phone and he was telling me that he wanted me to come and look at suits..."
"...I walked out of the store and the security lady stopped me and asked me about the bag. I told her I'm sorry I forgot (about the bag) and I will pay, but she did not want to listen and she made me go with her.
She was held at the shopping centre for five hours before she was taken to the Sandton police station, where she waited several more hours.
On Sunday afternoon, The Star was at the police station when paramedics were called in to treat Winfield after she suffered a severe anxiety attack. Attorney Marius du Toit arrived and arranged for her to be let out on bail.
Her ordeal lasted roughly from 11am to 9.30pm.
"The police are entitled to detain people suspected of shoplifting for 48 hours," Du Toit said, "but it leaves much to be desired that it took them five hours to pick Mrs Winfield up from the shopping centre."