Injured Student Demands M550k

(MENAFN- The Post) A National University of Lesotho student Lethea Thaela, 22, is demanding M550 000 as compensation from Police Commissioner Holomo Molibeli after he was shot and injured during riots in Roma last year.

The demonstration soon got out of control after some students began interrupting examinations and smashing university property, which caused serious damage to various buildings.

The police were then called to disperse rioting students. But instead of using minimum force to restore order the police began firing live ammunition at the students and fatally shot one Kopano Makutoane while they seriously injured several others, including Thaela.

Thaela says he was not part of the rioting students when a policeman shot him on the thigh when he was outside the university campus.
The students were protesting after the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) slashed their allowances by 50 percent.

The police management asked for“forgiveness” after the incident and reported that an internal investigation into the matter had been initiated.
Some students said the police had raided their residences and assaulted them even though they were not part of the protest.

Sources told thepost that the riot squad that responded to the strike was armed with one AK47 assault rifle, two Gallil rifles, seven pump-action rifles and one SLR rifle.
During the assault several students captured videos of the violence and police were seen battering a student who had fallen during the stampede.

The students captured the police randomly beating people they met in the Roma streets, far away from where the striking ones who were singing and chanting slogans.
Thanks to Thaela's father who is a policeman, the family managed to follow the details of the case to an extent that the young man was equipped to launch the civil suit.

Lefu Thaela, the victim's father, says his son was shot in the thigh while he was not participating in the strike, adding that“he was unfairly and illegally shot in the thigh”.

“He was shot alongside others while he was outside the gate,” Lefu says.

“One student passed away before they received assistance ...they were later taken to hospital,” he says.

Lefu says his son experienced trauma as a result of the incident and has not been doing well in school since.

“Since the incident, my son has experienced trauma and has been performing poorly in school,” he says.

“Even this semester,” Lefu says,“I will still pay for his fees to repeat some modules as the NMDS has stopped (his) sponsorship.”

Lefu says as a result of the shooting, his son has sustained losses of M550 000.

“We opened a case against the police, and the police also opened a case against those police officers who shot students,” he says.

Thaela has asked the High Court to order Commissioner Molibeli to pay him M200 000 for assault, M300 000 for pain and suffering.
He has also asked for an order for payment of M45 000 for loss of amenities of life and M5 000 for medical expenses both present and future.

He wants payment at the rate of 12.5 percent per annum, and costs of suit at attorney and own client scale.
Lefu says they recently sat with the police to discuss a settlement out of the court but did not agree because the police said they could only pay M45 000.

“The mediation was not a full success, we now have to battle it in court,” he says.

“What I can simply say is that one would think they would understand that as a human, I have gone through a lot of suffering because of that child,” he says.

He claims that during the mediation, he even sought to clarify all of the costs he incurred.

“I believed they would realise that they needed to meet me halfway. We even got to the point where they asked if they could meet me halfway,” he says.

“I responded, okay, if the negotiations are conducted in good faith, let us meet halfway.”

“We had first sought M550 000. I informed them we could reduce the payment to M300 000, but they responded that the most they could give him was M45 000.”

Police spokesman, Senior Superintendent Kabelo Halahala, says the police who responded to the riots at Roma have not been criminally charged.

“We are still at the investigation phase,” S/Supt Halahala says.

There are scores of victims of police brutality who have never been compensated by the police in the past. Others had to resort to expensive lawyers to gather evidence so that they could launch civil suits.

One such victim is Kabelo Khalanyane, a blind man who was battered by the police at his home in 2016.
The police were never criminally charged but thanks to his lawyer, Advocate Zwelakhe Mda KC, Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane awarded him damages in the sum of M150 000 in March this year.

In the judgement Justice Sakoane said although victims register complaints, often no progress is made in arrests and investigations.
The judgement says the victim, as the most crucial prosecution witness, does not get to be informed whether and when a criminal case will be brought before court.

“As a result, in most cases victims are left with no option but to sue the Commissioner of Police who in most cases is readily defended by the Attorney General notwithstanding that the police are in possession of a medical record of his or her injuries,” the judgement reads.

Justice Sakoane says because of delays and failures to investigate, charge and prosecute, victims cannot pursue the avenue of compensation provided by the criminal process under section 321 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.

The section provides that once any person is convicted of an offence, which has caused a personal injury to another person, or damage to or loss of property, the court trying the case may award him compensation for the injury, damage or loss of property.

Tholoana Lesenya

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