S.Africa Rape Victim Wins Damages From Government

June 13, 2005 - (Reuters) A South African woman who was raped by three policemen six years ago on Monday won the right to financial compensation from the government in what activists said was an important victory for women's rights.

Three on-duty policemen raped the woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, in the back of a police vehicle after offering her a ride home around four o'clock one morning in 1999.

Her lawyer said she was afterwards dumped semi-naked in a bush. The three men were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Two courts had dismissed her suit seeking compensation. But the country's highest court on Monday ruled in her favour, rejecting the state's argument that the crime was not committed while the men were carrying out their duty.

Hayley Galgut, who represented the woman on behalf of the Women's Legal Centre, said the Constitutional Court judgement was an important victory for women in a country with shocking levels of gender-based crime.

"The Women's Legal Centre is extremely happy about the positive judgement ... (The court) takes into account the lived reality of women's lives in a country with such high levels of gender based or sexual violence," Galgut told Reuters.

South Africa has one of the world's highest crime rates and analysts say gender violence in particular has soared as men feel increasingly threatened by women who have attained greater economic freedom since the end of apartheid in 1994.

A woman is killed every six hours in South Africa by her partner, according to a study released last month.

A government spokesman said officials would study the judgement before commenting on the case, which will be referred back to the Johannesburg High Court to set the amount of financial damages.

From : http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13692611.htm