DCS TO PAY FOR DEAD BOY

The Department of Correctional Services has been held accountable for the damages caused to a family whose 18-month-old son drowned in 2010 in the swimming pool located at the Mandela House premises, located at the former Victor Verster Prison.

The Western Cape High Court found that the department acted negligently in not ensuring that the swimming pool on the famous premises where Nelson Mandela completed his 27-year sentence was secured.

The parents, referred to in the judgment as the H family, turned to court after it held the department liable for the tot falling into the pool and drowning

The parents, who lived and worked on the prison grounds, claimed damages for serious chronic major depressive mood disorder and severe post-traumatic stress disorder after the seuntjie’s death.

Correctional Services initially raised a defence that the premises and swimming pool were under the control of an independent building contractor, but later abandoned this defence and said the child’s parents were to blame as they should have kept an eye on him.

The court said the department’s business is safeguarding prison complexes, their surrounds, and the public from unauthorised access to its facilities and ensuring that persons and property under its control are secured effectively under lock and key.

The amount of damages payable to the family will meanwhile be determined at a later stage.