Massive payout after unlawful arrest
A shift boss at the Medupi power station is set to receive a R322 000 payout from SAPS after he was unlawfully arrested in 2011.
|||Pretoria - In one of the biggest payouts for damages resulting from an unlawful arrest, a shift boss at Medupi power station near Ellisras, is set to receive R322 000 from the police after he was locked up in a filthy cell for a day for no apparent reason.
Willem Fourie initially claimed R350 000 following his ordeal in August 2011 when he was arrested at an accident scene in Lephalale. The police alleged he was interfering with paramedics treating a patient.
Fourie said his brother, who worked under him, had a drinking problem.
On the day of the incident his brother did not report for duty. Fourie rushed to the single quarters where his brother stayed and noticed a crowd standing nearby as there had been an accident.
Worried that it might be his brother, Fourier rushed to the scene where a man was injured. Paramedics were attending to him. He was approached by a policeman, identified as Johannes Gouws.
Fourie told the policeman that he wanted to establish whether it was his brother who had been in the accident, as he was worried about him.
However, Gouws asked him whether he was at the accident scene on official business.
The policeman then told Fourie that if he did not leave the scene immediately, he would be “locked up for the weekend”.
Fourie said as he was turning to leave, he mumbled to himself that “if the police arrested the right people, things would be much better in this country”.
A furious Gouws arrested him and took him to the police station, where he said Gouws told him “that he would lock me up for the entire weekend among the k*****s'.”
When Fourie asked what he had done wrong, he was told he had interfered with the paramedics.
Fourie explained that he did not even speak to the paramedics.
His pleas for his epilepsy medication were ignored. He was locked up in a “filthy cell with eight other people, with a toilet that did not work”. He had no food or a blanket, Fourie said.
He was not assaulted by anyone in the cell, but he couldn't sleep as he was constantly harassed by the other prisoners, Fourie said.
He constantly feared for his life and he did not know what was going to happen to him, he added.
Nothing came of the charges against him, but Gouws eventually resigned from the SAPS.
According to a report from a psychologist, his unlawful arrest and detention left Fourie with psychological problems, for which he will have to receive counselling.
Fourie’s lawyer, Tim Vlok, said the damages awarded to his client included R191 000 for future medical expenses and R75 000 for general damages.
Pretoria News