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The first South African convicted and sentenced for racist slurs is suing the police and justice ministry over alleged unlawful arrest, local media reported on Thursday.
Former realtor Vicki Momberg was convicted in March 2018 of repeatedly hurling racist insults including the word “kaffir” at a black policeman.
She was found guilty of crimen injuria — wilfully hurting someone’s dignity and sentenced to three years in jail.
The word “kaffir” is “an embodiment of racial supremacy and hatred, all wrapped in one”, the magistrate said during her failed appeal hearing in April 2018.
Her lawyer Anesh Sukdeo said she was now seeking 8.5 million rand (US $600,000) in damages over her arrest in 2016.
“The police did not have a warrant of arrest. They arrested her unlawfully,” Sukdeo told local radio JacarandaFM.
Momberg was caught on video verbally abusing the officer who was trying to assist after her car was broken into.
The case was the first in South Africa to send a person to prison for crimen injuria. Previous convictions typically resulted in fines.