Appendix A: Summary of cases from 1998
This is the complete summary of all cases handled by the Human Rights Forum.
Case No.
1102/98
11022/98
11023/98
11025/98
11036/98
11037/98
11038/98
11039/98
11041/98
11043/98
11044/98
11045/98
11048/98
Reasons for suit
The plaintiff was beaten up by the police while at a night club while they were
investigating the burning of a police vehicle. He was taken to Makoni Police Station
where the assaults continued overnight. Consent to judgment. Payment not yet made.
He experienced ‘falanga’ during his ill-treatment.
The plaintiff was accused of looting, and was beaten by soldiers with hosepipes and
whips made from car tyres. Epileptic patient with increased seizures as a result of the
attack. Settlement.
The plaintiff was going to pick up his sister from school when he was approached
by police who told him to flee and he did so. He then encountered another group of
police officers, who then took him to Makoni Police Station, and he was accused of
having stolen goods. He was beaten with metal chains and detained for five days.
Case was withdrawn as client passed away.
The plaintiff was assaulted by the army as they thought he was part of the riots and
had looted one of the shops. He was assaulted with booted feet and baton sticks. The
army also destroyed his property. Settlement. By September 2005, the client had not
collected his payment.
The plaintiff was cycling home from work during the food riots. The police were firing
recklessly, and the plaintiff was shot in the right arm. He had not been participating
in the riots. The defendants consented to the judgment. The amount was eventually
paid in June 2001.
The plaintiff was accused of being involved in food riots in Chitungwiza, and
was assaulted with baton sticks. Claimed damages of Z$55,200, but was awarded
Z$88,750.
The plaintiff was assaulted with a rifle butt while soldiers searched his home looking
for evidence for him having been at work that day. Was awarded damages of
Z$55,000.
Soldiers entered her premises looking for looted property and the accused. In the
process of their search, they assaulted plaintiff and other members of her family with
baton sticks and sjamboks. Agency renounced.
The plaintiff was shot in the head during the food riots while he was in his friend’s
house. He was not part of the riots and the police shot directly into the room.
The plaintiff was beaten by police officers using a piece of wire, baton sticks and
booted feet. The plaintiff was accused of having participated in looting, and the
beating was to get a confession from him. The case was closed as the plaintiff could
not be located.
The plaintiff was shot during the food riots by a member of the police. He is now
paralysed as the bullet lodged in his spinal cord. Judgment was given for the plaintiff.
Payment of $4,243,200 was only made on 12 December 2004.
Plaintiff was a child (9), and was shot by soldiers during the food riots when they fired
at random into the street and homes. The child was playing outsider a neighbour’s
house when she was shot. Consent to judgment.
Tear gas was fired on his roof, and, while fleeing from it, he ran out of the house
and was shot on the forehead by the police. At the hospital the doctors managed to
remove the bullet and he was sent home the next morning. Court order in favour of
plaintiff. Cheque was paid 31 May 2001.
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