A full bench of judges in the North Gauteng High Court ordered police minister Bheki Cele to compensate two Pretoria women who were unlawfully detained. File Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)
A full bench of judges in the North Gauteng High Court ordered police minister Bheki Cele to compensate two Pretoria women who were unlawfully detained after they were pulled over by unidentified police officers during patrol.
Helga Muller and Yolandi Bell were driving in Centurion when they were pulled over by two members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) on the night of April 27, 2017.
Muller was the driver and Bell was a passenger.
After being stopped, a female officer informed Muller that she was from Hammanskraal and that their police station, along with Lyttleton, were collaborating to combat drunk driving on Wednesdays and Fridays.
The officer asked Muller to blow into the breathalyser and she was told that her reading was 0.35. When she asked to see it, the officer refused.
Muller was then told that she would have to go with the officer in the police vehicle and that the male police officer would drive her vehicle with Bell inside.
As they were driving, the officer told Muller that she will be taking her to Sunnyside police station because Lyttleton was full and in order to avoid that, she should give her R6,000 bribe.
The amount dropped from R6,000 to R2,000.
Muller was told by the officer that if she did not pay the money, she was going to the Sunnyside police station.
“I started panicking because I know the Sunnyside area and I was so scared that she would in fact take me there, and she told me to get out of the car and walk over to my vehicle,” she said in her evidence report.
To avoid being detained at Sunnyside, Muller said she drove with the officers and withdrew the R2,000 and gave it the officers.
She said they were in the company of the officers for at least three or four hours before they were escorted home.
Muller said she asked the officers to escort them as she was scared that they might fall victim again.
The women then reported the ordeal to the Independent Police Investigation Directorate (IPID) and it was first heard in the Tshwane Magistrate’s Court where it was dismissed.
The matter was then taken to the high court on appeal.
The high court said it was obvious and undisputed that throughout the course of events, the officers represented themselves as police officers, exercised police powers of arrest and detention.
“Their attire and their vehicle made clear to Ms Muller and Ms. Bell that they were police officers and they informed them that they were carrying out police duties at the time that they stopped them.”
It was further added that there was a sufficient close connection between the appearance and conduct of the officer and their work as police officers.
“It is for this reason that the minister of police is liable for the conduct of the officers on the evening in question,” the judges said.
The minister was ordered to pay Muller R102,000 and Bell R70,000.
He was further ordered to pay costs of the application.
sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za
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