Wounded cop the state abandoned dies in debt

The death at the weekend of a Durban metro policewoman - who endured pain, numerous operations and financial hardship for 10 years as a result of being shot while on duty - will not stop her family from fighting for justice.

Cherise Cox's brother, Shane, said: "My sister is dead and the policeman whose gun was used to shoot her is still walking freely out there. It does not matter how long it takes - even after 10 years, justice should be served."

Cox, 40, died from complications related to the injuries she sustained when she was shot while apprehending hijacking suspects in August 2003.

Shot in the stomach, Cox managed to shoot and kill one of the hijackers.

It was later discovered that the gun used to shoot her was a metro police firearm that had been sold to the hijacker. A second metro police firearm was recovered from the hijackers.

Cox had more than 23 operations to ease blockages in her intestines caused by a hollow-point bullet.

Her medical bills amounted to more than R2.5-million and she had no help from her employer or the state.

Her suffering was first exposed in 2011 when she failed in her attempt to get support from the state.

"I had to learn how to walk again due to the nerve damage and had to wait nine months for my wound to close in my abdomen," she wrote on her Facebook page in 2011.

"Then for nine months everything was okay and then everything has snowballed from there."

Her medication cost between R5000 and R8000 a month but she received a pension of only about R4000 a month after deductions. Medical bills remain to be paid.

Metro police spokesman Superintendent Eugene Msomi said the department was "in pain over Cox's death".

"We are in contact with the family to assist them for the funeral. We have sent one of our seniors to discuss with the family the role that we have to play."

Msomi said the police had investigated how the metro police guns came to be in the possession of the hijackers but said the metro police did not know the outcome of the investigation.

Cox's funeral is at the Presbyterian Church in Umbilo today.