90 Amani Trust case number 859 Report number Sex male 66 Name G.M Age 32 ID number Province Midlands District Gokwe North Employment Unemployed Date of report 19/03/02 Nature of incident Assault Date of incident 16/03/02 Perpetrators Unknown men Case history G.M. was a polling agent for Gokwe North during the elections. On 16/03/02, he was returning home to the Chitsa area, when a group of five men approached him and called out his name. They threw a stone at him and he fell to the floor. The men then assaulted G.M. with iron bars as he lay on the ground. G.M. fainted and the assailants ran away. Medical assessment SRQ-8 Score: On clinical examination 3 days after the event, the patient had 4 haematomas on his face, about 2cm diameter each, on his forehead, right cheek, nasal bridge and right lip. He had a very painful right shoulder, but no evidence of fracture or dislocation, and a deep abrasion of his dorsal surface of his right hand 4x4cm. He had another 4x4cm abrasion on his right hip, and 2 similar deep abrasions on his right ankle. His right shoulder settled on analgesia and physiotherapy. Psychiatric assessment Three days after the traumatic event the patient had recurrent intrusive thoughts of the trauma and dreams of the trauma. He related that he becomes very distressed when he sees groups of people and has palpitations. He tries to avoid thoughts and feelings related to the trauma by praying. Avoids going back to his home area because he is afraid of being killed. Has difficulty remembering some aspects of the trauma. He has sleep disturbances and is often woken up by bad dreams. He relates that he is more irritable since the attack and is hypervigilant. Significant findings on mental state examination included poor eye contact with the interviewer, reduced psychomotor activity, low volume speech, sad mood, disturbed sleep, poor appetite, reduced energy and loss of interest. He had no suicidal ideas. He had auditory hallucinations –heard voices but words were indistinguishable. He also had impairment of concentration. A diagnosis of Acute stress disorder with depressed mood was made. AMANI TRUST: Beating your opposition. Torture during the 2002 Presidential campaign in Zimbabwe.