A police bungle that saw an  Eastern Cape man held for four days for being in possession of half a Mandrax pill will cost the taxpayer R130,000 in compensation for his unlawful detention.

Acting judge Mickey Mfenyana, in a ruling handed down last week, found that police should have released Olwethu Kulati on bail, but instead turned a blind eye while he sat in a cell over the Easter weekend on a petty drug charge — all because he did not ask to be let go...