Gwanda magistrate, Ndumiso Khumalo, who
was battered by police in April following his arrest over suspected robbery, has
lodged a complaint for the violation of his rights
Khumalo filed his complaint on May 29 at
Hillside Police Station after he was assaulted on April 21 at 9pm in Waterford,
Bulawayo.
In his letter, Khumalo stated that he was
a magistrate at Gwanda (Criminal) Magistrates Court.
“It was on April 21, 2020 at 9pm, and I
was walking home with a friend (neighbour) after visiting him where we had
spent the evening indoors from around 6pm and two vehicles stopped on the main
road. The occupants of the vehicles disembarked. The first vehicle to stop was
a Honda Fit carrying approximately 10 men armed with knobkerries and police
batons,” Khumalo wrote.
“The second vehicle was a kombi being
driven by a tall, dark and big uniformed member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police
(ZRP). The kombi had two other uniformed police officers, but the one I saw
clearly was the driver. On disembarking from their vehicles, the part of men,
armed with the weapons, started to assault me and my friend accusing us of
hitting one of them with a brick and taking his bicycle in a nearby bush
earlier that evening.”
Khumalo stated that the police officers
asked them where the bicycle and a satchel (suspected to be stolen) were.
“The mob of armed men assaulted me
severely on both sides of my pelvis using batons, knobkerries and did not stop
until I was unable to feel my legs or stand. During the attack I ran and tried
to beg the driver to intervene but he pushed me back to the armed men,” Khumalo
wrote.
“I became half-conscious on the side of
the main road after being assaulted by the mob and the police officer (driver)
violently handcuffed me to his friend’s left hand. I was extremely in pain and
could not feel my legs. The officers demanded that we get into the kombi saying
we were under arrest as suspects for robbery.”
Khumalo said they were driven to Hillside
Police Station where they were charged with robbery and detained.
The following morning Khumalo realised
that they were victims of mistaken identity as the three robbery suspects were
already in custody.
“The three young men confessed to beating
and robbing a man of his bicycle,” Khumalo wrote.
After demanding to be released, Khumalo
and his friend were charged with loitering during lockdown and ordered to pay
$500 fine each. Khumalo showed the officers the wounds on his pelvis and
convinced them that he required medical attention.
“An ambulance arrived and I was carried by
officers into the vehicle, given back my shoes, cellphone and a piece of paper
instructing the hospital to treat me,” Khumalo wrote, adding that he was
treated at United Bulawayo Hospitals and released the following day, but his
friend remained in custody.
Constable Rambi of Hillside Police Station
called and asked Khumalo to bring a medical affidavit to the station so that he
could lay assault charges against the officers who had battered him, but he
could not because he was still receiving medical treatment.
Khumalo later discovered that his friend
had been given handwritten summons to appear in court on a charge of robbery.
“To date I still cannot walk without
feeling extreme pain, needless to say that I am still confused as to how this
unfortunate incident befell me in my neighbourhood, near my house and near a
police station,” Khumalo wrote.
The medical affidavit compiled by a doctor
at the United Bulawayo Hospitals stated that Khumalo’s injuries were serious,
permanent disability was likely to occur and that the examination showed that
there was potential loss of life due to intracranial and internal bleeding.
The police are yet to respond to the
letter. Newsday
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