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.
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.
Since the replacement of her eye with the prosthesis, the woman said that it has caused her trauma as the ocular prosthesis currently fitted presents an unnatural appearance and lacks synchronous movement with the remaining functional eye.
It was put to the court that the visible asymmetry has attracted unsolicited attention.
“Compounding the distress, the prosthesis is associated with mucosal discharge emitting an offensive odour, which exacerbates public scrutiny and contributes to the plaintiff’s ongoing embarrassment,” the judgment read.
“She states further that scarring beneath the right eye, resulting from the surgical procedure, adds to her disfigurement and intensifies her emotional discomfort.”
Her claim included future medical expenses.
The payment of R2 205 567 was the calculation in respect of damages and included an amount for general damages, a calculation for loss of earnings, an amount for future medical and related expenses, assistance devices, as well as assistants.