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Man crippled in police shooting wins court battle

The state stands to pay out millions of rands to a Sekhukhune, Limpopo, man who was left crippled after being unlawfully shot by a police officer in 2007.

Sibothwanyane Sampie Ratau tasted victory on Thursday at the North Gauteng High Court in Tshwane, as Judge Peter Mabuse ruled in favour of his application.

Ratau pursued the matter against Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and sergeant Marius Etsebeth, the officer that fired two shots in both his legs while he was fleeing.

Mabuse ruled Etsebeth's decision to shoot Ratau while he fled could not be justified under law. "The defendants have therefore failed in their duty to prove justification of Etsebeth's conduct. They are therefore liable for his damages."

Etsebeth shot Ratau on January 17 2007 at Coronationville, an informal settlement near Emalahleni in Mpumalanga.

He believed Ratau had been involved in a housebreaking. Etsebeth testified that he fired shots at a fleeing Ratau in a bid stop and to arrest him.

Etsebeth told the court he initially fired two warning shots to stop Ratau before he suddenly saw something in his possession he mistook for a firearm.

He chased after Ratau after he saw him fleeing from a shack in which he was looking for thieves who were involved in a housebreaking.

Police had gone to the shack with a man named Bigboy Seepe, whom they had caught with stolen property. Seepe was to point out his accomplices.

Etsebeth said he knocked at the door and identified himself, to no avail. But while at the door, noises from behind the shack led him to chase Ratau.

Ratau testified that he fled from the shack because he saw a friend of his and in whose shack he was sleeping, flee.

He said he heard no one screaming at him to stop, nor did he hear police introduce themselves while knocking at the door.

Ratau lost consciousness after being shot and only regained it at the hospital.

He is no longer able to use both legs and his bladder due to the shooting. "His injuries have left him permanently a cripple," Mabuse pointed out.

A new legal process will now determine how much Ratau should be paid.

Rap sensation Khuli Chana scored R1.8-million in 2016 after police shot at him in a case of mistaken identity. A bullet hit Chana's finger.

nkosib@sowetan.co.za

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