Legal Wranglings | Suing the police for assault

A man who claimed he was falsely arrested and charged with assaulting a policeman is contemplating filing a suit against him.

He said he went to visit his girlfriend one night in 2013 and saw the policeman in her bedroom.

"When I saw the policeman in her bedroom, I called her outside and asked her what was going on," he explained.

"She told me he was watching the news on the television, so I should not think she was having an affair with him. I did not believe her because the day before I had told her I was going to do some work in the country, and would not be returning until the next three days. The job finished a day before I had planned. When I went to check on my girlfriend, I saw the policeman sitting on a chair in her bedroom.

"I told her I was not pleased that she had the policeman in her bedroom, and that it did not look proper. She said he came to deliver a message from one of her friends and, while they were outside talking, he asked if he could watch the news.

"I began quarrelling with her. I told her did not trust her and I did not believe a word she was telling me. She said she would never cheat on me, but I told her I could not have taken her word for it.

"While we were engaged in an argument, the policeman came outside of the room and told me to shut up. I asked him what authority he had to tell me to shut up. I told him I was talking to my girlfriend, he had no right to intervene. I told him I was paying the rent for the room and have a right to query what he was doing in the room.

"The policeman became upset 'draped' and 'boxed', me when I ordered him to leave the premises. He went to the police station and reported to one of his colleagues that I had assaulted him.

I was arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm. I went to court many times, but the policeman did not turn up.

I guess he did not attend court because my girlfriend told him that if he pursued the case against me, she was going to attend court and tell the judge what had happened.

"When I was arrested, I spent the night in jail before I got bail the next day. I am very upset with what happened. my friends have encouraged me to take action against the policeman. The incident happened in 2013 and the case was thrown out last year."

You could have brought charges against the policeman for assaulting you because he was the one who 'boxed' you. However, it is now open to you to bring a suit against him for false arrest and malicious prosecution. You must file the suit before the expiration of six years from the date of the incident because there is a time limit for filing civil suits. The Limitation of Actions Act sates that a civil suit must be filed within six years of the cause of action or the alleged wrongful act.