- A court ordered that Police Minister Bheki Cele pay R5 000 in damages after a 14-year-old was handcuffed and detained.
- Thabang Skosana sued the police for R1.2 million, alleging that he was assaulted.
- The court, however, found he was not assaulted by police.
A teenager, who sued the police minister for R1.2 million, after he was detained and allegedly assaulted, was awarded R5 000 for the unlawful arrest.
The teenager was 14 when he was handcuffed and detained in the back of a police van.
In June 2017, Thabang Skosana was at home when the police arrived to question his father and a friend about a business robbery that had taken place.
In Skosana's version, the police allegedly assaulted the trio and asked about a gun before handcuffing the teenager, and putting him in the back of a van before returning him home.
But the assault version was denied by the police, who said Skosana got into a fight with his father's friend, who was referred to as Maja.
This came after Maja confessed to having committed the robbery, and having implicated Skosana's father.
The police said they only handcuffed Skosana to defuse the fight.
Skosana, subsequently, sued the police for more than a million rand, for the detention and alleged assault.
A medical report from a doctor showed he had bruising to his wrists, which was caused by the handcuffs, as well as some tenderness in his cheeks.
In his judgment, North West High Court Judge Ronald Hendricks said the medical report was neutral about who caused the tenderness in Skosana's cheeks.
"When the police saw Maja, they observed that his hand was injured, although he was wearing a glove on it. Blood was oozing through the glove. Maja was cooperative and surrendered. He also volunteered the information about the spent cartridges.
"The spent cartridges were seen by Constable Mabasa. All this points to Maja. It is improbable that the plaintiff, who was a minor at that stage, would be confronted and assaulted by the police to take out a firearm, when Maja admitted that he handled the firearm and even shot himself in the process."
Hendricks said that, because Skosana was a minor, he should have been treated differently.
Hendricks said that the deprivation of liberty is viewed in a very serious light, especially when it concerns a minor. However, the circumstances under which it happened should be taken into consideration.
The judge said Skosana was handcuffed not because he was suspected of being a robber, but because the police needed to contain him as he was aggressive towards Maja.
"He was placed in a police van and driven away and later on placed in the Quantum motor vehicle. They kept him for approximately one hour in these police motor vehicles and then returned him to his homestead. He was never criminally charged or placed in a police cell, nor did he appear in a criminal court or that his fingerprints were taken to be entered as a criminal record.
"That he suffered humiliation is beyond question. These factors must be considered when determining an amount to be awarded as solatium or compensation," Hendricks added.