SCA orders police minister to pay R280,000 in damages to domestic abuse victim

It was over five years ago when Charmaine Naidoo was struck by her husband and betrayed by the police.

But now the 42 year old Johannesburg mother can finally get closure after the Supreme court of Appeal ruled in her favour.

On Friday, the SCA ordered that the Minister of Police Nathi Nlehko pay up R280,000 for damages caused to Naidoo in 2010 when she tried to report the violence that was taking place from her 'long standing marital conflict".

Instead of being helped, she was turned away, arrested and shoved at the back of a police vehicle.

The officer who detained her told the high court “it is domestic violence. I cannot allow two persons to go back under the same roof again, I do not know what is going to happen there. So it is better if we separate them till then, they will go to court and court decide…”.  Naidoo was even accused of “wrongfully having her husband locked up".

"What followed thereafter was a dreadful series of traumatic, humiliating and flagrant violations of the appellants right to dignity, freedom, security of her person and bodily integrity," the court found.

Since the incident, Naidoo who works in the food catering industry has suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She is emotionally distressed, depressed and suffers from "flashbacks that emotionally overwhelmed her", her medical report stated.

Speaking to The Times, Naidoo said that the court ruling in her favour gives her closure. "It was a bad experience for me, I hope others will be assisted. There are many woman who take abuse and think there is no way out, but there are people who can help."

The matter was dismissed in the high court on technicalities, but the SCA had harsh words for the courts conduct of Naidoo's trial.

The court found that the trial was conducted in an "unacceptable manner" because Naidoo's legal representatives were denied opportunities in court.

Judicial officers must conduct trials in a "open minded and fair manner" and be "sensitive and compassionate" to the people that appear before them, the court commented.