Hawks victims awarded R1.9m in damages claim
Taxpayers have to foot R1.9m in damages for a top Hawks sleuth’s heavy-handedness, says a TimesLIVE report. The saga initially played out at the offices of an Eastern Cape municipality six years ago and ended up in the Eastern Cape High Court (Grahamstown) this week.
According to a ruling handed down by Acting Judge Sunil Rugunanan, Captain Luphumlo Lwana descended on the Senqu municipality’s offices, in Lady Grey, in July 2013 to arrest municipal manager Mxolisi Yawa for corruption.
However, he ended up arresting his lawyer, Andre Schoombee, and several other employees.
The charges were provisionally withdrawn and reinstated after Lwana threatened the prosecutor ‘with arrest for obstruction of justice’.
They were tried in the Lady Grey Regional Court until the DPP stopped the prosecution in March 2018, after 25 appearances.
Schoombee, Yawa and three others sued Lwana and the Minister of Police for damages ranging from malicious and wrongful arrest to medical costs, trauma and assault.
The lawsuits were consolidated in April and the Minister of Police ‘conceded liability’, while Lwana ‘made no appearance’.
Rugunanan awarded the four applicants a total of R1.9m in damages.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
