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Minister liable for bum shot
23/08/2005 21:15 - (SA)
Pretoria - The minister of safety and security is liable for the damages suffered by a Hammanskraal man who was shot in the buttocks by police who thought he was a hijacker, the Pretoria High Court ruled on Tuesday.
Acting Judge Peter Mabuse said the police acted too hastily and without assessing the situation first. Steven Sithole claimed R5.1m for the damages he suffered as a result of his injuries. The actual sum awarded will be decided later, after evidence of the harm inflicted has been heard.
It was stated in papers before the Pretoria High Court that he was shot from behind and that the exit wound was to the left of his genitals. He required surgery in this regard.
Sithole claimed a further R200 000 for his incarceration after the police arrested him on suspicion of being a hijacker, a charge later withdrawn. Misinterpreted fight
Mabuse ruled that Sithole was also entitled to damages for this.
Police misinterpreted a fight between two taxi drivers - into which their passengers had been drawn - as a hijacking.
Sithole was one of the passengers.
The judge said of the policeman who fired the shot which wounded Sithole: "He totally misread the situation. "He shot in the dark... and he started shooting without any warning... He was too hasty to use his firearm and failed to read and understand the situation before he fired at the plaintiff."
Mabuse said there was in any event no evidence that anyone tried to hijack a taxi. He said the inference they came to that it was a hijacking, "seems far fetched and without any genuine basis".
- SAPA
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