The man, aged 21 at the time, was arrested in 2020 by police after an 11-year-old neighbour claimed he had attacked her at his home and raped her by penile penetration
A man without a penis who was thrown into a hellhole jail in South Africa after being accused of rape has been awarded £35,000 in compensation.
The accused was arrested by cops in 2020 after his 11-year-old neighbour claimed he had attacked her at his home and raped her by penile penetration. The man, aged 21 at the time of his arrest, was later revealed to be the victim of a brutal kidnapping and attack when he was twelve – which resulted in him losing his left ear, penis, testicles and scrotum.
When he appeared at Ezakheni Magistrates Court charged with rape, his father approached the investigating officer and showed his son’s medical records to prove the almost fatal attack nine years prior led to him being castrated.
But despite being handed the records, the case officer kept the information from the prosecutor and the innocent man was incarcerated in a notorious hellhole jail where he spent 54 days in appalling conditions. It wasn’t until the father managed to get the medical records to the prosecutor at a further hearing that the rape case was withdrawn.
Five years later, the victim put a case forward against the Minister of Police for wrongful arrest and illegal detention. Judge Johnson Mathenjwa read a report which stated the man was kidnapped by a gang when he was just twelve – and that his private parts were completely removed in Soweto.
He was reportedly kidnapped by a gang who “harvest” body parts to sell to witch doctors for black magic potions. The potions are called “muthi” and are bought by superstitious Africans for things like miracle health cures or to make them lucky in love or successful in business.
Judge Mathenjwa said: ”It is clear from the evidence before the court the arresting officer did not evaluate the facts at her disposal that he could not have committed the crime.
“The officer did not even inform the prosecutor of the evidence presented to her by the plaintiff’s father which showed that due to his physical state he was incapable of rape. The case officers failure to confirm this to the prosecutor resulted in the plaintiff’s arrest and detention and deprivation of his liberty and being held in intolerable conditions Judge Mathenjwa found that the man had been unlawfully arrested and detained and having committed no crime received no apology or explanation for his detention.”
He was awarded R800,000 (£35,000) and his legal costs for the “violation of his rights”. The man’s lawyer, Mr Robert van Wyk, said: ”The judgement was in the best interests of justice and to our client. We are thankful to the court and now our client now can close this horrific chapter of his life and hopefully this award can assist in getting his life back on track again.”