Robbers in a gold-coloured Mercedes Benz who followed two professors from OR Tambo Airport and robbed them when they stopped at their home in Pretoria East has nearly cost the SAPS in a damages claim.

A Cape Times report says while the police were never able to trace the robbers at the time, they spotted the golden car a few months later in the city.

They flagged down the driver, Max Shabangu, but when he heard they wanted to speak to him about a robbery, he sped off.

This resulted in a high speed chase during which both Shabangu and the police were involved in accidents.

Shabangu was eventually arrested and spent a few days in jail, but the NPA declined to prosecute him.

Shabangu instituted a claim for damages against the police, including R300 000 for the psychological trauma he said he had suffered as a result. He said he was forced to receive counselling for his mental well-being.

But Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) Judge Selby Baqwa said that Shabangu was not an impressive witness, and the police were merely doing their job on the day of his arrest.

Shabangu had claimed he feared the people who stopped in the unmarked car next to him were hijackers, and therefore he sped away.

The SAPS, however, said that if he was afraid for his life, he could have sought help nearby as it was in a busy part of town with people, car washes and spaza shops all around.

Shabangu admitted that he drove recklessly and hit a traffic light, but explained he was trying to reach a safe place like a fuel station.

In turning down his claim, Baqwa said there were reasonable grounds to suspect that he had committed the crime of armed robbery, thus the police had only done their job.

Full Cape Times report

Judgment