A victim of an accidental police shooting incident at a
roadblock along Seke Road in Chitungwiza two years ago has been awarded over
US$16 000 in damages in a civil lawsuit.
Loveness Chiriseni had sought a claim for compensation at
the High Court after she was shot and injured by a policeman who was trying to
stop the driver of an unregistered vehicle from fleeing the law enforcement
agents at a roadblock on August 19, 2018.
She claimed a combined US$16 788 for special damages for
hospital and medical expenses, general damages for disfigurement, pain and
suffering and loss of amenities to life.
The woman was the only one that was shot in the vehicle
after the driver, Lloyd Sibanda, lost control on hearing the first gun-shot.
Chiriseni, who was sitting in the front passenger seat was
caught by the second shot after the bullet ricocheted from the vehicle and hit
her on her right buttock.
The Commissioner-General of Police, Minister of Home
Affairs and Cultural Heritage and the Officer-in-Charge at St Mary’s police
station — all listed as respondents, were contesting Chiriseni’s claim.
Following advice from their legal counsel, the respondents
abandoned the challenge to liability on the day of the trial. Both parties then
agreed to have the matter proceed to trial on the question of the quantum of
damages only.
Chiriseni’s presentation of her claim, backed by
documentary evidence which could not be controverted, convinced Justice Edith
Mushore to grant her the award she sought.
The judge also took a judicial notice of the reasonableness
of Chiriseni lawyer’s monetary claims under the various heads of damages filed
with the court.
“I have no doubt that the respondents would have had no
difficulty coming to a settlement of this court action because the amounts
claimed by the plaintiff are reasonable and justifiable when compared to the
comparative cases cited by the plaintiff,” said Justice Mushore.
Chiriseni, said Justice Mushore, was just a passenger in a
vehicle thus the policeman had no basis in terms of the Constitutional
provisions to fire a weapon at a civilian target.
She said if it was his intention to stop the driver from
proceeding through the roadblock, the policeman should have fired a warning
shot into the air.
The court found that there was no need to fire a second
shot when the vehicle had veered off the road.
This, said Justice Mushore, should have motivated the
police officer to prevent the potential loss of lives occurring from a car
accident.
“By firing a second shot at the vehicle, which was not able
to breach the roadblock because the driver lost control, the police officer
deployed unbridled excessive force that was not justifiable and thus failed to
exercise his Constitutionally imposed duty of care that he owed to the
plaintiff,” she said.
Chirsieni’s lawyer argued that the police officer who shot
her client applied excessive force and that the officer’s right was exercised
in an overzealous and questionable manner. Herald
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