A man arrested for playing music too loudly never made it to the police cells and instead spent six days in ICU in hospital after the police, en route to the police station, attended a crime scene with him in the back and he got shot by robbers.

The Middelburg High Court in Mpumalanga had strong words for the carelessness of the police, which will now result in the taxpayer having to dig into their pockets to pay damages to Enock Ximba.

The court found that the minister of police is 100% liable for the damages Ximba can prove that he has suffered. He was shot in the stomach during crossfire between the police and the robbers. The court also questioned why it was in the first place necessary for the police to arrest Ximba on a charge of noise pollution, while they could have simply issued him a warrant to appear in court.

Ximba testified that he was at home with his friends playing music softly when the police appeared and arrested him for disturbing his neighbours’ peace. Ximba said while loading him in the police van, the officers suddenly received a call to attend a crime scene at a nearby Spar and they rushed to the scene.

According to him, a shooting ensued between the police and the unknown people at the scene and he was hit with a bullet in the stomach. Paramedics took him to the hospital where he spent six days in the intensive care unit.

Whilst in hospital, he was not under police guard. When he was discharged, he went home and nothing ever came of the noise charge against him. A police constable, in explaining his version of why Ximba was arrested for playing music, said, “he is responsible for bringing peace in South Africa and if there is no peace, he must arrest whoever is supposed to be arrested”.

He said he and a colleague went to Ximba’s home that day after they received a complaint that someone was disturbing the peace. When they got there, they heard music being played loudly. According to the constable, they arrested him for disturbing the peace. He further explained that while on the way to the police station, two unknown people out of the blue fired shots at the police vehicle. The constable denied that they had responded to a crime scene at the Spar.

The court said the police have a legal duty to protect people in their custody, which they did not do in this case. The version of the police that they never attended to a robbery scene with Ximba in the van was rejected.

A robbery scene is a dangerous environment and the police, by taking the plaintiff to that active crime scene, risked his life. The plaintiff is a civilian with no training or skill in terms of firearms, Acting Judge M Malangeni said.

“As for what purpose the plaintiff was arrested, this court is in the dark. The plaintiff was never taken to a police station. In fact, he did not appear in court at all. If the intention was to arrest and bring him to court, whilst in hospital, he was supposed to be in police guard so that when he got discharged, he would be taken to court,” Judge Malangeni said.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

Source link