Wrongfully imprisoned man to receive R750 000 compensation

A MAN who served nearly eight years in jail for a crime he did not commit, and a further 77 days when he was eventually cleared on appeal after the departments of Justice and Correctional Services did not get around to order his release, will receive R750 000 in damages.

- ZELDA VENTER

The Mpumalanga High Court, sitting in Mbombela, found that Wonder Nkambule was arbitrarily deprived of his freedom and should be compensated.

Nkambule had been sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2013. The judgment and sentence were subsequently successfully appealed against in December 2021. An order for the immediate release of the plaintiff was given on the same day.

But the order for the liberation of Nkambule was not timeously transmitted to the personnel of Correctional Services, as it should have been. As a result of this failure, he was only released from his detention in March 2022.