Keltria
03-02-2005, 10:22 AM
Death-row man loses his claim
02/03/2005 19:02 - (SA)
Pretoria - Former death-row prisoner Casper Kruger on Wednesday lost his High Court bid against the department of correctional services for R500 000 in damages.
Kruger claimed the damages for mental torture he claimed he underwent in C-Max Prison.
He said he tried to explain to the authorities he was an A-group prisoner when he was transferred and that he should not be in C-Max, but no one listened to him.
Instead, he said, he had to spend 40 months in what he described as a "hell hole".
Judge M F Legodi found Kruger was a "shattered person" even before he was imprisoned in C-Max.
The judge cited extracts from a long letter Kruger wrote to his girlfriend while he was still held at Pretoria's Maximum Prison - written months before he was moved to C-Max.
"The extracts referred to show a very worried and unstable person.
'Desire to lash out'
"He appears to be a broken man who refuses to accept the finding of the court on the three murder charges. He expresses his emotions and desire to lash out..." said the judge.
Judge Legodi said it did not seem as if Kruger ever settled into prison life, even before he was placed in C-Max.
Kruger had escaped twice from prison and he even went on a hunger strike.
"His fear of being hanged... started long before he was placed in C-Max," said Legodi.
The department claimed Kruger was an escape risk, but Kruger said he was already punished for this by spending a month in solitary confinement, before being relocated to C-Max.
A psychologist said he would have to receive about five years of counselling before he would be able to forget his ordeal in C-Max and be able to interact with the community.
The department, however, claimed Kruger was a difficult prisoner who needed to be in C-Max.
Judge Legodi said: "It is accepted that prison is a black place and that prisoners are not entitled to imprisonment with all the comforts they enjoyed before their incarceration."
He said correctional services was entitled to transfer Kruger to C-Max without first listening to him as to why he should not be transferred.
"While the actions of the defendants (correctional services) were not procedurally fair, the grounds on which the decision was taken were, in my view, lawful and reasonable."
Should be treated with dignity
Legodi pointed out that prisoners retained all the basic rights of liberty of an ordinary citizen, except those taken away from them by law and that they should be treated with dignity.
Kruger is serving a 22-year sentence in Leeuwkop Prison in Midrand for murder.
He was sentenced in August 1992 to the death penalty three times, and a further 65 years in jail on three charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Kruger still denied that he had committed the crimes. He said he had escaped from jail repeatedly because of his fear of being hanged.
02/03/2005 19:02 - (SA)
Pretoria - Former death-row prisoner Casper Kruger on Wednesday lost his High Court bid against the department of correctional services for R500 000 in damages.
Kruger claimed the damages for mental torture he claimed he underwent in C-Max Prison.
He said he tried to explain to the authorities he was an A-group prisoner when he was transferred and that he should not be in C-Max, but no one listened to him.
Instead, he said, he had to spend 40 months in what he described as a "hell hole".
Judge M F Legodi found Kruger was a "shattered person" even before he was imprisoned in C-Max.
The judge cited extracts from a long letter Kruger wrote to his girlfriend while he was still held at Pretoria's Maximum Prison - written months before he was moved to C-Max.
"The extracts referred to show a very worried and unstable person.
'Desire to lash out'
"He appears to be a broken man who refuses to accept the finding of the court on the three murder charges. He expresses his emotions and desire to lash out..." said the judge.
Judge Legodi said it did not seem as if Kruger ever settled into prison life, even before he was placed in C-Max.
Kruger had escaped twice from prison and he even went on a hunger strike.
"His fear of being hanged... started long before he was placed in C-Max," said Legodi.
The department claimed Kruger was an escape risk, but Kruger said he was already punished for this by spending a month in solitary confinement, before being relocated to C-Max.
A psychologist said he would have to receive about five years of counselling before he would be able to forget his ordeal in C-Max and be able to interact with the community.
The department, however, claimed Kruger was a difficult prisoner who needed to be in C-Max.
Judge Legodi said: "It is accepted that prison is a black place and that prisoners are not entitled to imprisonment with all the comforts they enjoyed before their incarceration."
He said correctional services was entitled to transfer Kruger to C-Max without first listening to him as to why he should not be transferred.
"While the actions of the defendants (correctional services) were not procedurally fair, the grounds on which the decision was taken were, in my view, lawful and reasonable."
Should be treated with dignity
Legodi pointed out that prisoners retained all the basic rights of liberty of an ordinary citizen, except those taken away from them by law and that they should be treated with dignity.
Kruger is serving a 22-year sentence in Leeuwkop Prison in Midrand for murder.
He was sentenced in August 1992 to the death penalty three times, and a further 65 years in jail on three charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Kruger still denied that he had committed the crimes. He said he had escaped from jail repeatedly because of his fear of being hanged.