Man’s leg ‘not broken by police’
Credibility of Bota’s statements raised
The Grahamstown High Court has found that a man who was allegedly assaulted by the police most likely fell and broke his leg.
Nkosiyabo Bota said the police assaulted him in Duncan Village in East London at around 9pm on August 9 2013.
Bota said he broke his leg and sustained soft tissue injuries‚ bruises and abrasions after the police assaulted him with open hands and booted feet. He said they tackled him to the ground before taking him to St Dominic’s Hospital.
The police contradicted Bota’s account.
Judge Nomathamsanqa Beshe ruled that it was Bota’s responsibility to prove his version of the story on a “balance of probabilities”.
Bota‚ 47‚ worked as a police reservist for eight years.
He and two friends had shared two 750ml beers earlier that afternoon.
Bota and Nceba Mandla accompanied their friend home. On the way‚ Bota saw two police vehicles and approached them.
Sergeant Masixole Nhube said Bota called out the names of two officers in an apparent case of mistaken identity.
He then hurled insults at them after no one responded.
According to Bota‚ he was then arrested and assaulted.
He was put in the back of a police van and driven around the township. He alerted the police to the pain in his leg after they had stopped at a shebeen. They then took him to the hospital.
Beshe said there were discrepancies in Bota’s statements to the police and in his testimony.
Bota had not mentioned that the police tackled him in his statement to the police.
The docket contained a statement by Mandla‚ which backed up Bota’s statement to the police. Mandla denied he made a statement to the police, yet he confirmed the signature on the statement was his.
“No mention [is made in the statement] of the plaintiff having been tackled to the ground or falling by Mandla in his statement just as is the case with plaintiff’s statement‚” Beshe said in the judgment.
“In my view‚ at the time plaintiff and Mandla submitted their statements to the police in 2013‚ the events of the August 9 2013 would have been fresh in their minds.”
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s report did not mention the police tackling Bota.
Beshe said the “inescapable conclusion” was that the allegation about the tackle was an “afterthought” that harmed the credibility of Bota and Mandla’s testimony.
“What are the probabilities of plaintiff and Mandla omitting to mention the tripping/tackling in their statements to the police if this had occurred?“
She said the submitted records showed no other injuries apart from Bota’s broken leg.
The case was dismissed with costs. –