The Supreme Court of Appeal has awarded the family of Michael Komape R1.4-million in damages for emotional shock and grief, after the five-year-old fell into a pit latrine at school and drowned.
The Supreme Court of Appeal has awarded the family of Michael Komape R1.4-million in damages for emotional shock and grief, after the five-year-old fell into a pit latrine at school and drowned.
He fell in and drowned in human waste. He was found “lying in the filth in the pit with hand outstretched as if seeking help,” the judgment reads. Michael’s parents, Rosina and James, had also suffered depression, the court said, with “nightmares and flashbacks of Michael lying in the pit with his hand outstretched”.
However, the appeal court decided not to develop the common law of damages or award constitutional damages — as had been argued by the Komape family’s lawyers and friends of the court Equal Education. The court also refused to award “constitutional damages” — damages as a result of a breach of the family’s constitutional rights. Constitutional damages have been awarded before — but in respect of financial loss that would not have been recovered under the common law, said Leach.
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