AK v Minister of Police

The applicant, an adult woman, was abducted, assaulted and repeatedly raped over approximately 15 hours after being accosted at Kings Beach in Gqeberha on 9 December 2010. Her vehicle was found later that night and SAPS members conducted a search involving ground units, a K9 unit and a helicopter, but failed to locate her. She escaped the following morning and reported the crimes. The subsequent police investigation failed to identify or prosecute the perpetrators. The applicant alleged that SAPS negligently failed to conduct a reasonably effective search and investigation, which exacerbated her psychological and psychiatric trauma, and sued the Minister of Police for delictual damages.

Leave to appeal was granted and the appeal was upheld. The order of the Supreme Court of Appeal was set aside and replaced with an order dismissing the appeal. The High Court’s finding of delictual liability against the Minister of Police was restored. The Minister of Police was ordered to pay the applicant’s costs in the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court, including the costs of two counsel where applicable.

This case is significant for affirming that SAPS can be held delictually liable for negligent omissions in search and investigative duties, particularly in cases involving gender-based violence. It reinforces the constitutional obligations of the police to protect vulnerable persons and clarifies that inadequate police conduct may attract liability even where the police did not cause the initial crime, but exacerbated the harm suffered.