Gay activist sues police, Zanu-PF activist for $10,8 million

A TRANSGENDER activist, Ricky Eugene Nathanson, who was arrested in 2014 for allegedly using a ladies' toilet at a Bulawayo hotel, has dragged Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo and a Zanu-PF activist, Farai Mteliso, to the High Court demanding $10,8 million in damages.

Nathanson is suing for unlawful arrest, detention and prosecution after Mteliso reported him to the police for entering and using a women's toilet at Palace Hotel.

Through his lawyer, Perpetua Dube, Nathanson said he was demanding $2,7 million from each of the cited respondents.

In his submissions yesterday before Justice Francis Bere, Nathanson called his witness, psychologist, Philiph Francis Moses, who works for the Counselling Services Unit in Harare.

Moses said he deals with victims of political violence and other dehumanising activities and Nathanson came to him on June 21, 2017 after being referred by Psychological Assessment Centre in South Africa.

"I had a clinical behavioural interview with him and my opinion was that the plaintiff (Nathanson) was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. These features were moderate, as indicated he had a score of 40 out of a total of 85," Moses said.

"From that clinical conclusion I made recommendations that he needs to attend eight sessions of psycho-therapy with the therapist of his choice for the treatment of his moderate symptoms of post-traumatic disorder and that the treatment will strengthen his psychological health and quality of life before I produced a report."

Moses said the background of the matter was that Nathanson was unfairly arrested and during the procedure he went through a traumatic experience, which he narrated to him.

"He was traumatised by sudden appearance of armed riot police officers at Palace Hotel and taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station, where he was ordered to undress in front of the police officers. Comments passed by the police officers on his gender were traumatising. Also the experience of being taken to two general hospitals, Mpilo and United Bulawayo Hospitals, where he was ordered to undress for the verification of his gender was traumatising," Moses said.

"The negative publicity by the media and the language used was humiliating. Because of that he lost business. He was running a successful business and the negative publicity made him lose business.

"This traumatised him and I noticed that, on his narration, despite being composed and logical, he broke into tears because narrating the experiences was too painful for him."
Moses also said the reduction of his trauma might have been due to his education status and the period he took before he approached him.

On his arrest, Nathanson was charged, but was subsequently acquitted by Bulawayo magistrate, Abednico Ndebele, on charges of criminal nuisance after the court ruled that prosecutors had failed to prove their case.

Nathanson accuses the respondents of violating his constitutional rights and damages caused by unlawful arrest, detention, malicious prosecution, emotional distress and contumelia.

Nathanson, who runs a modelling agency in the city, said, in his summons: "On January 16, 2014, I was publicly arrested by six police officers in riot gear and removed from the bar and taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station. The arrest was at the instigation of Mteliso, who acted without just, reasonable or probable cause, and maliciously."

He said Mteliso made a false police report after he tried and failed to extort money from him.