A Port Elizabeth woman falsely arrested for prostitution has been granted R112 018,03 in damages by the city’s high court, Beeld newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Laurika Vermeulen (23) initially claimed R600 000 from Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula for unlawful arrest, unlawful incarceration, unlawful prosecution, assault, injuries sustained and legal expenses.
This followed Vermeulen’s arrest for ”loitering with the intent to commit prostitution” on May 13 2005, at about 11.30pm, in front of the Red Lion Hotel in Govan Mbeki Avenue. She was waiting for her husband, who was in the bar. The case was later withdrawn.
She was also forced to spend a night in police cells.
Constable Moses Bodlani, the officer who arrested Vermeulen, testified that he never assaulted her, as had been claimed, but used force to get her into the police van because she resisted. He also testified that he saw how she and a group of women lifted their dresses to passers-by.
However, Judge Chris Jansen doubted this as Vermeulen had been wearing a short, tight-fitting skirt. ”How could she lift such a tight skirt for passers-by?” Beeld reported Jansen as saying.
Vermeulen said she pleaded with the police officer and his woman partner to call her husband from inside the bar. She showed them her wedding ring, but her protests fell on deaf ears. — Sapa