Mother sues clothing store after 15-year-old ‘beaten and locked in a storeroom for 12 hours’

A Gauteng mother is suing one of South Africa’s largest clothing stores for R1 million after her teenage son was allegedly assaulted and kidnapped by staff members on accusation of theft.

The case emanates from an incident that happened in November 2022, when a 15-year-old boy accused of shoplifting was reportedly assaulted and locked inside the Power Fashion store in Daveyton Mall, Ekurhuleni.

The clothing store belongs to the Mr Price Group Limited.

‘Forced to clean the store’

The mother, Mosima Mphela, said: “Soon after the incident I communicated with the assistant store manager but we could not reach common ground, hence I decided to approach the lawyers.

“These people violated my child’s rights because if a person is accused of something the matter should be reported to the police but instead of doing that they assaulted him and locked him up.

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“He told me he was also forced to clean the entire shop.”

Mphela said after the incident, her child started behaving strangely and failing in school.

Mphela said on the day of the incident, she returned home from work and found her son was not home.

At about 6pm, a boy informed her son was arrested at one of the shops in the mall. She rushed to the police station and found that her child was not there.

“Around 8pm, I went to the mall and found that the gates were already locked.

“He was released around 9pm with serious injuries all over his body.

‘Locked up for 12 hours’

“When I asked him what happened he said his friends tried to steal and ran away so he was caught by the security guards and the staff members who assaulted him repeatedly.

“He said he was locked up in the storeroom from 9am until 9pm,” Mphela said.

She later confronted the assistant manager and demanded the names of the people who assaulted the boy, but the woman refused to give the information.

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A legal letter of demand sent to Mr Price’s management said: “The child suffered emotional shock, trauma and impaired mental health, for which he required medical treatment. His right to human dignity in terms of section 10 of the constitution was violated.”

Investigation into the incident

When reached for comment, Matthew Warriner, director of investor relations and stakeholder engagement, said: “The group has engaged with the family prior to the receipt of a letter of demand and is following the due legal process.

“We take these matters extremely seriously, which is why a full investigation was conducted at the time of the incident.”

He said he was not at liberty to discuss the results of the investigation.

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