Shoot-out survivor sues police for P10m
Sharon Mathala | Monday April 10, 2023 06:00
Matsoga is the survivor of the infamous Gaborone West-Sefalana shootout between the police and suspected armed robbers in which three robbers and two bystanders lost their lives.
In papers filed last week, Matsoga told the court that he was neither a threat nor did he pose any threat to the police officers on the day. For that Matsoga is claiming P435,000 as compensation for the pain and suffering that he underwent and still undergoes as a direct consequence of the police officer’s actions. The survivor further wants the court to grant him P5.5 million for medical expenses as a direct consequence of "the unprovoked and reckless shooting on the plaintiff by agents of the first and second defendants”.
He said he suffers psychological trauma which he will endure for the rest of his life or for the indeterminable future, necessitating lifelong prolonged and protracted psychological interventions.
Matsoga also added that he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and for that, he demands damages of P500,000. For economic loss as a result of injuries sustained during the shooting, the survivor wants government to pay him P365,000. For his physical scars, the man wants to be paid P400,000 and an extra P2.8 million for future loss of earnings as he is now unable to function as well as he did before. Giving an account of what happened on the day of the shooting, Matsoga says it was around 5pm when he was engaged by Sefalana in Gaborone West store as a Disc Jockey for the store’s Black Friday festivities.
He tells the court that whilst standing next to his black Honda Fit car, he noticed a commotion near the store entrance which was followed by loud gunshot-like sounds. “The plaintiff hastily sought refuge in his motor vehicle and sat on the driver’s seat hoping for some cover and concealment from any shooters in case his perception of what he heard as gunshots turned out to be a reality,” reads his court papers. According to the survivor, whilst still in his car observing the situation he was shot by the police. “[The] ... plaintiff noticed that several small arms projectiles were hitting and piercing the cabin of his motor vehicle at an angle from the rear while the plaintiff was still in shock and ducking for cover, one of the small arms projectiles penetrated his upper left back and exited just above the left armpit, shattering the windshield of his motor vehicle in its trajectory.” According to Matsoga, two men who identified as police officers approached his car on either side with their guns pointed at him.
He says they “stopped short of firing more rounds of ammunition when one of them noticed a young female person seated on the passenger side.” He says he was later taken to Princes Marina Hospital where he was stitched up and released the same day. “After various times following his discharge from the hospital between November 2022 and February 2023, the plaintiff was summoned to meetings with senior officials of the first respondent, which meetings were purportedly and ostensibly for discussing payment of repair costs occasioned on the plaintiff’s motor vehicle by the shooting,” the survivor further tells the court. He says all the meetings traumatised him.
“In facing his assailants or people resembling his assailants once again all by himself without any assistance by a psycho-social professional, the plaintiff was subjected to unnecessary emotional distress and trauma,” further reads the papers. Matsogwa further makes startling allegations that the Botswana Police Service (BPS) paid P43,000 for his damaged car in cash without issuing him any receipt or a written description of what the money was for at first. He says the police had told him that the money was compensation for damaging his car. Meanwhile, Matsogwa’s lawyer Tshepang Edwin Makwati has confirmed to Mmegi that they have since instigated another criminal case of attempted murder on the part of the police.
The case, according to the man’s lawyer, has been opened at the Borakanelo Police Station. Reached for comment, the police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Dipheko Motube refused to be dragged into the matter only saying, “I can only comment on that after investigations are complete.” The survivor is represented by Modimo and Associates against the state.