Parents lose damages claim after being detained for rescuing child during lockdown from Muizenberg beach.
Parents who were detained for six hours after rescuing their toddler who wandered onto the beach at Muizenberg during lockdown, lost their more than half a million damages claim against the police.
The Cape Town High Court found that the police acted within the law at the time, as they were following the lockdown regulations which were in place. The parents, who are only identified by their initials as their daughter was slightly older than a year when the incident occurred in May 2020, claimed that they had suffered a nightmare ordeal at the hands of the police.
The husband testified that they lived in an apartment in Muizenberg, close to the beach. On May 4, 2020, they walked in the direction of Muizenberg’s brightly coloured huts and noticed the presence of the police on the boardwalk.
Their daughter was restless and the husband then removed her from the carrier. While he was placing her on the ground he turned his attention to the carrier. When he turned around, he noticed that she was on the beach, beyond the wooden pole railing of the steps.
