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CIV\T\311\94

IN THE
HIGH COURT OF LESOTHO

In the
matter between :

CHAKA
CHAI RAMAFIKENG Plaintiff

and

JULIUS
RALETSELA Defendant

JUDGMENT

Delivered
by the Honourable Mr. Justice T. Monapathi on the 6th day of March
1995

The
Defendant was served with summons and did not respond in anyway. That
is why the Plaintiff applied for a judgment by default
of appearance
of the Defendant for damages. The Plaintiff put in viva voce evidence
which was also supported by a medical certificate
termed "treatment
instructions" which I marked Exhibit A. The certificate reports
most saliently that the Plaintiff was
"shot with a
rifle............. as it was high velocity wound I removed the
sutures and sent him for X ray. This showed simple
fracture of his
3rd and 4th metacarpal bones of his right hand which is also his
dominant hand."

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The
Plaintiff's claim was for payment of damage of :

1. A
   sum of M5,000.00 for assault on the eye,

   
   

2. A
   sum of M5,000.00 for pain and suffering.

   
   

3. A
   sum of M10,000.00 for assault by a rifle.

   
   

4. A
   sum of M10,000.00 for pain and suffering on same.

   
   

I thought
the assaults on the Plaintiff were quite irresponsible and
unjustified. The circumstances showed that drinking could have

contributed somewhat to this incident. It was not clear whether the
presence of the Plaintiff's girlfriend could have also contributed,

It was this girlfriend of the Plaintiff who the Plaintiff, following
on a message previously received, had waited for, for more
than an
hour at a place called Whitehouse at one Lithabaneng junction in the
district of Maseru. Both parties are members of the
Royal Lesotho
Defence Force stationed at Makoanyane.

The
Plaintiff was about to go with that girlfriend of his at about 10.00
p.m. when the Defendant (still in uniform) arrived at the
said
drinking place. The Plaintiff had in fact told his girlfriend to go
and wait outside the drinking place when

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Defendant
asked Plaintiff why he was in a hurry to go. Plaintiff had replied
that it was not Defendant's business. Apparently the
Plaintiff in
reply to Defendant used the word "monna" (man) which the
Defendant objected to and asked the Plaintiff why
he referred to the
Defendant in that manner. In most communities in our land a senior
male would object to the use of the word
by a junior one. This is so,
usually' when it is used in an unfriendly attitude or with lack of
respect. Clearly the Plaintiff
did not accept the Defendant's
intervention to his going away with his girlfriend at the time that
Plaintiff was intent on going.
The Defendant there and then hit the
Plaintiff with a fist on the eye and lip which resulted in some of
the injuries on which one
of the Plaintiff's claim is based. But more
followed after this initial assault.

The
Plaintiff proceeded outside to follow his girlfriend whereupon the
Defendant followed. It was moonlit and not dark outside,
that is why
Plaintiff was able to identify the Defendant who threatened that he
would shoot the Plaintiff until he excreted (u
be u nyele). The
Plaintiff was carrying a bottle of beer and immediately heard a gun
report and felt that he was shot on his right
hand. He was shocked
and called out to Defendant that he has already shot him. There was a
lot of blood from this open wound on
his hand. He could no longer
walk unassisted. He was hospitalized and sutured at Makoanyane. The
following day

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he was
attended to by a doctor who made the report in Exhibit "A".
He removed the sutures "which are not usually
made on a gun shot
wound" as the Plaintiff reported.

In
addition to the gun shot wound the Plaintiff had swollen lips and an
injured eye which has permanently lost focus or has a bad
vision. The
use of his dominant hand has been permanently affected and as a
result he has failed a test which would depend on optimum
use of his
hand "currently he has not regained fully function of his hand
with limited flexion and poor grip", as stated
in the medical
report.

The use
of firearms is rampant and unjustified and results in unnecessary
injuries on innocent people more often than not. In this
instant
matter I awarded damages to the total sum of M8,000,00 with costs.
The damages were as follows:

1. Assault
   on the eye and the lip, pain and suffering -M3,000.00. That is
   M2,000.00 for assault and M1,000.00 for pain and suffering.

   
   

2. Assault
   by shooting, pain and suffering - M5,000.00. That is M3.000.OO for
   assault and M2,000.00 for pain and suffering.

   
   

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As in
most claims in the past I also felt that these claims were a bit
inflated, but the costs were still to be on the High Court
scale.

"T.
MONAPATHI

JUDGE