Police to pay for stray bullet injuries

A PLUMTREE magistrate has ordered police and a kombi driver to pay a Bulawayo woman $4 000 in damages after she was shot as cops were pursuing a fleeing kombi in which she was a passenger.

Ms Constance Tshuma was demanding $10 000 compensation from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and the kombi driver after a bullet ripped through her foot, leaving a gaping hole.

Ms Tshuma, who was represented by Mr Lizwe Jamela and Mr Shepherd Chamunorwa, filed summons at the Plumtree Magistrate's Court on April 21 citing the kombi driver, Mbonisi Mpofu, the officer-in-charge Plumtree Police Station, Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga and Home Affairs and Culture Minister Minister Obert Mpofu as defendants.

Plumtree Magistrate, Mr Taurai Manuwere, awarded damages amounting to $4 098 to Tshuma for the pain, suffering and disfigurement she suffered emanating from the injuries she sustained on October 23 in 2014 when a police officer indiscriminately fired a firearm at a stationary vehicle in which she was travelling from Plumtree to Bulawayo.

In the judgment, Mr Manuwere questioned the police officers' conduct in firing at a kombi with nine passengers on board, saying there were other avenues of effecting an arrest.

"From the established facts the question to be answered by the court is; was firing a gunshot at a motor vehicle with nine passengers on board over a case of smuggling and failure to obey police instruction reasonably justifiably in the circumstances as contemplated by Section 42 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (Chap 9:07)?" asked the magistrate.

He said the kombi driver did not pose any imminent or future death or grievous bodily harm to anyone, including the cops.

"The offences to which lethal force was used to prevent first defendant from escaping are not of a serious nature which involves the use of life threatening violence or a strong likelihood that they may cause grievous bodily harm.

"There were nine passengers on board. The motor vehicle had come to a halt. The person who fired the shot did not target the transgressor. The gun shot fired injured an innocent passenger. Therefore, from the foregoing it is my considered view that the police officer's conduct was not reasonably justified in the circumstances," Mr Manuwere said. "There were other avenues of arresting first defendant (driver) like calling for reinforcements from Plumtree Police Station. The police officer committed a wrongful act during the course of his duties."

Mr Manuwere ordered Minister Mpofu, the Officer in Charge of Plumtree Police Station, Commissioner-General Matanga and  the kombi driver to pay $2 000 as damages for pain and suffering, $1 098 as damages for hospital and medical expenses and $1 000 as damages for disfigurement to Ms Tshuma.

According to court records, the incident occurred on October 23, 2014, when Ms Tshuma was in a commuter omnibus travelling from Francistown to Bulawayo.

Ms Tshuma said when they arrived in Plumtree, they were stopped at a roadblock and ordered to disembark with their luggage. One of the police officers got onto the kombi and discovered shoes stashed under a seat.

After no one claimed ownership of the shoes, police accused the kombi driver of smuggling and ordered him to drive back to Plumtree Police Station.

When the passengers got in, Mpofu allegedly sped off towards Bulawayo with a police vehicle in pursuit.

A few minutes later, police caught up with the kombi and blocked its way before one of the officers fired and injured Tshuma.

She was admitted at the United Bulawayo Hospitals for six weeks.