South Africa: The woman who spent 7 months in a male cell
Before she was acquitted of attempted robbery and hijacking in South Africa, Denise Abbah was imprisoned in a male cell for seven months as she waited for her trial. The prison officials mistook her for a transvestite. Ms Abbah is now seeking justice as she is suing the Department of Correctional Services for damages amounting to R100 000.
According to IOL six years after her release Denise Abbah is ready for a fight with the department on the ordeal she went through. Denise is a mother of five:
There is nothing manly about 36-year-old Durban mother Denise Abbah. She is quite pleasant and no one in their right mind would suggest she looks like a man
Yet she was thrown into a men’s prison cell for seven months, which resulted in her being raped and sodomised, she claims.Now, six years after her release, Abbah wants revenge:
“I have been in hiding. My life has been turned upside down. I cannot go anywhere without people picking on me, calling me a man,” says the Durban mother of five. […]
In papers filed in the Durban Magistrate’s Court, she is suing for R100 000 in damages, although she is seeking further advice on how to increase her claim.
Abbah’s alleged torture began in September 2002 when she was sent to jail to await trial for armed robbery, attempted murder and hijacking – she was later acquitted on these charges.
Denise had her name mistyped as “Denis” instead of Denise and thrown in a cell with men where she was raped multiple times.
Christina Engela writes on her blog Sour grapes- The Fruits of Ignorance:
I think it should be pointed out that it’s not so nice to be treated like us, is it? And therefore it’s not nice the way WE are being treated – DESPITE provisions in existing laws that supposedly protect people from this sort of treatment.
Apparently some typically over-qualified genius in the employ of the State mistyped her name as “Denis” – when she was actually Denise. (Yes, that’s right, with an “e” – as in “education
Syndicated from http://GlobalVoicesOnline.org:
South Africa: The woman who spent 7 months in a male cell
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
