Court awards R538000 to rape victim

THE Grahamstown High Court has ordered the Department of Safety and Security to pay damages of almost R540000 to a woman after the court found she had been raped by a policeman while wrongfully arrested and detained in Port Elizabeth.

Judge Jeremy Pickering found that the woman, 25, who cannot be identified, was raped by a policeman after her arrest and while being kept at Motherwell police station cells on May 28 2011. The woman had sued the department.

The woman, who was 22 at the time, had been arrested on a charge of being drunk and disorderly while returning home from a Motherwell tavern. She is unemployed and has one child.

The judge ordered the department to pay the woman damages of:

• R100000 for wrongful arrest and detention.
• R425000 in respect of general damages for assault.
• R13113 for any future medical expenses resulting from her being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the incident.
• He also ordered the department to pay the costs of the suit.

Despite Judge Pickering's findings, the policeman involved has not been prosecuted for rape and was also cleared of any wrongdoing at an internal disciplinary hearing held by the Independent Complaints Directorate. - Lee-Anne Butler

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