Falsely imprisoned for 7 years: KwaZulu-Natal duo awarded R3.6 million in damages

Two KwaZulu-Natal men have each been awarded R3.6 million in damages, following an acquittal on charges of rape and other crimes, for which they spent just short of seven years behind bars.

The hands of time cannot be pulled back to 2006 – the year when Siyabonga Latha and Mthandeni Hlongwa were arrested and tortured for crimes they didn’t commit.

Tortured at the hands of police

News24 reported on the startling revelations relating to the brutal treatment received at the hands of police officers.

Both men were 25 years-old at the time of their arrest. Upon their arrest, the men were transported to an isolated sugar cane field near Buffelsdale. There the living nightmare intensified: police dogs were set on Latha, inflicting serious bite wounds.

Later, they were transported to Tongaat and Ndwedwe police stations, where they suffered further torturous beatings, inflicted by investigating officers eager to drag a confession out of the men.

Still, the detainees denied their involvement in that specific case, arguing that they were in custody for other offences. The investigating officers refused to look into the alibi.

Judge Rishi Seegobin of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg was scathing of the police officers in his judgement, saying:

“This took the form of severe assaults: First at their respective places of residence and thereafter in the sugarcane fields at Buffelsdale. It was here that the barrel of a gun was placed in Latha’s mouth with a threat that he would be shot.

It was also here that a rope was attached to his handcuffs and a police dog set on him. Even though he received treatment at the Osindisweni Hospital for his dog bite injuries, this treatment was carried out without any anaesthetic.”

Acquited in 2013

The two men were eventually acquitted in 2013. In 2016 the pair sued the police, justice, correctional services and the National Director of Public Prosecutions, seeking reparations relating to past and future loss of earnings, malicious arrest and detention, deprivation of freedom, the impairment to dignity and general damages for psychological trauma.

Judge Seegobin, who granted the duo damages, spoke on the trauma experienced by the men while imprisoned, saying:

“They were approximately 32 years old by the time they were released (upon acquittal in May 2013). Six years and eleven months is indeed a long time to be deprived of one’s liberty and personal freedom. It is also a long time to be deprived of an opportunity to establish a career, to strengthen personal relationships and in general, to create a sense of self-worth and well-being.”

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