High Court rules against prisoners in torture damages claim

Judgment was recently handed down by the Port Elizabeth High Court in the much publicised St Alban’s case, as it became known, which emanates from an alleged mass assault of prisoners at the St Alban’s prisons in Port Elizabeth in July 2005.

Another prisoner (McCallum), who was also a victim of the same assault, took his complaint successfully to the UN Human Rights Committee and drew much attention to the issue.

However, the Port Elizabeth High Court dismissed with costs the case of the two prisoners claiming damages from the Minster of Justice and Correctional Services for the assault. Judge Chetty was of the the opinion that Mbena, one of the two claimants in this case, was a "pathological liar" and that his "claim for damages must fail".

The full judgement is available here.