Man “Beaten By Police ‘Sues for R 2m

Die Burger

Fatima Schroeder

Fabian Wyllie wants to know why

Fabian Wyllie says he lives in fear, mostly of police officials, after he was allegedly beaten for several hours at the Delft police station three years ago.

And to this day, the former wood chopper who lives in Phillippi has no idea why he was arrested in the first place.

Now Wyllie is turning to the Western Cape High Court to sue the national and provincial ministers of police for more that R 2million.

Wyllie told the Weekend Argus he left his aunt’s house in Delft and was walking home on the R 300 between 10pm and 11pm on may 4, 2010, when a police van drove past. It then turned around and two police officials got out to search him.

He said they manhandled him, demanding to know:

“Where are the others?”

But Wyllie had no idea what there were talking about.

The policemen didn’t find anything when they searched him, he said, but they arrested him anyway. Wyllie said he didn’t protest because he hadn’t done anything wrong and he had nothing to hide.

Minutes later, when the van pulled into the courtyard of the Delft police station, the two policemen were joined by about five others who also asked Wyllie “Where are the others?”

They pulled out their batons and allegedly started to hit him all over his body. Blood was oozing from the back of his head.

Wyllie said the police officers threw a bucket of mop water over him, then continued to beat his wet body.

At one stage he tried to escape through an open door, but a female officer allegedly kicked him back into the courtyard. Another female officer told him she couldn’t help him because her colleagues would turn against her if she did.

His ordeal lasted for more than five hours and, when the next shift arrived for duty, the officers allegedly dragged him to the front of the police station. He was never charged.

As he lay helpless outside, a woman from the Delft Day Hospital approached him and arranged a wheelchair and medical treatment. Wyllie was eventually transferred to Tygerberg Hospital, where he remained for a month.

Today, he fears police officers and refuses to go to Delft.

According to court papers, Wyllie sustained a severe head injury, damage to his kidneys, several fractures and deep vein thrombosis. He hasn’t returned to work because of his injuries.

Wyllie’s R 2.3 m claim includes medical expenses, loss of earnings and damages.

The minister denied the allegations, claiming police had reasonable grounds to believe that Wyllie had committed, or was about to commit an offence, specifically interfering with the safe or free passage of pedestrians or vehicles on the R300.

They said he was taken in for questioning and released.

A criminal case against one of the police officers is pending in the Bellville Regional Court.

The officer in question, Alfonso Hill, has been charged with attempted murder.

Wyllie‘s attorney, Tzvi Brivik, said a date for the case had not yet been allocated.