SA woman awarded R2.2m after rubber bullet injury

A WOMAN who was struck in her right eye with a rubber bullet and had to have it surgically removed will be compensated to the tune of R2.2 million by the Police Ministry.

- CHEVON BOOYSEN

This comes after the High Court of South Africa at the North West Division, Mahikeng, granted the damages claim of the woman who had initially sought costs of R3.5m. The woman was struck by an errant rubber bullet in her right eye on July 11, 2019, while doing chores in her yard, while nearby civil unrest unfolded and police had attended.

The woman, who was 19 at the time when the incident occurred and was gaining traction in her entrepreneurial business selling homemade atchar door-to-door with a monthly income of about R3 600 per month, lost all function in her right eye, and it was surgically removed and replaced with a prosthesis.