Mom sues city over ‘savage’ attack
A BEAUTY therapist who claims she was assaulted by two metro police officers when she would not pay a bribe after being fined for a parking violation, is suing the eThekwini municipality for R800 000 damages.
Neshana Bharath said in papers filed in the Durban High Court that she suffered multiple bruises on her skull, face, neck, breasts, back and thighs and had to spend five days in hospital.
Bharath, of Durban North, told POST being “treated like an animal” was horrifying.
“I am a mother and a wife. To be violated in that way was wrong on so many levels. I felt powerless. I’ve never been hit, even by my parents, and to be publicly assaulted as a grown woman was not only savage but humiliating.”
She claimed the woman officer, whom she is also suing, had pulled her by the hair in the Durban CBD and kicked her while a male officer watched.
“People came out of their shops but were helpless because they were metro cops.”
She claims she also suffered a limb fracture and spinal injuries. “I was off work for two months and suffered a loss of income,” she said in papers before the court.
Because of the incident, she now needed to consult a psychologist due to “flashbacks” she had, she said. The alleged incident took place after Bharath had parked her car on the side of Dr Goonam (Prince Edward) Street on March 16 last year.
Bharath said she was approached by a policewoman who told her she was being fined for parking in an area that was not demarcated for parking.
She said she had waited for the fine, but after 15 minutes did not get one and so asked what was going on, only to be told: “Do something else to avoid getting a fine.”
As she needed to leave urgently, she said she insisted the fine be issued but the policewoman called another officer who tried to elicit a bribe.
“She (the policewoman) then began to assault and hurl abuse at the plaintiff in full view of the public and passers-by for no reason,” the papers state.
Despite asking them to stop, Bharath claims both officers continued to hit her before again asking her to pay a bribe, which she refused to do.
The pair eventually left, warning her not to report the incident to the SAPS.
Bharath, who is being represented by advocate Rajiv Surjoo and attorney Roy Singh, said that after she was examined by a doctor she was admitted to hospital.
She is claiming R500 000 for general damages and R300 000 for special damages, which includes past and future medical expenses.
“At all material times (the police officers) acted within the scope of their employment with (the municipality), alternatively in furtherance of their duties of the (municipality)… They were driving a metro police vehicle,” the papers state.
The municipality and the officer are defending the action.
In opposing papers they denied Bharath was assaulted, saying the onus was on her to prove the case against them. They asked that the matter be dismissed.
A trial date is still to be set.