Woman claims R502k after casino incident

An aggrieved gambler who says she was sworn at and physically attacked by a “large white man” at the Time Square Casino in Pretoria has demanded R502 000 damages from the casino.

The lawyers acting for Adeline Mamti Kaba, 51, sent a letter of demand to the casino, in which Kaba blamed them for not doing more to protect her against her assaulter and claimed she was seemingly racially profiled as the aggressor”.

According to the letter, the incident started at midday on June 27 at the blackjack table when an argument ensued between Kaba and an unknown large white male (later identified as a Mr Roux), who she said verbally abused her by calling her a b*#ch and threatening to “f*#k her up” and to “flatten” her.

She claimed no one intervened despite the fact that she, as a defenseless black woman, was clearly intimidated by the white man, who then proceeded to slap her in full view of the public.

According to the letter, a fellow gambler had to restrain Kaba, who became hysterical and highly emotional after the assault and threw her perfume at her assaulter.

She claimed there was no intervention after the man started verbally abusing her, and that when casino security intervened after the assault, she was told to “go back to Mamelodi”.

According to her, she was “victimised and assessed as the wrongful party” and “detained against her will” while her assaulter “was released without his details being recorded for further investigation” and she felt the incident “smacks of the earlier Spur incident between a black woman and a white gentleman”.

The casino’s manager, Brett Hoppe, said in a statement that while the Sun International Group considered any acts of violence to be completely unacceptable, having reviewed video and audio footage and multiple witness statements, the group was satisfied that it took reasonable and necessary steps required under the circumstances.

He said they had to date cooperated fully, to the extent they were legally able to do so, in dealing with those involved and with the police.

According to the casino, security was alerted to the incident about two minutes after it started, and immediately responded by separating the two patrons and removing them voluntarily to the ground floor dispute room to prevent any further aggression, which was standard practice within the casino industry.

The table’s gaming manager and security duty manager questioned the patrons about the incident and were later joined by the surveillance manager and senior security manager.

“Following review of the detailed video footage by surveillance and the continuing acrimony between the patrons after they had been taken to the dispute room, the surveillance manager suggested that the assailant be removed from the premises.

“At around 3.42pm the senior security manager was instructed to escort this patron from the premises, which he did.  It was only then that the senior security manager managed to obtain the name and telephone number of the assailant, who up to that point had refused to disclose any of his personal information,” he said.

The casino then contacted Brooklyn Police Station, which said Kaba would need to come to the station to open a criminal case as she indicated she would.

He said Kaba had left Time Square on her own volition at about 3.42pm, presumably en route to the police station, but then returned asking further details about the assailant, but was informed that management would give the information to the police directly.

“On Wednesday, 28 June 2017, the security duty manager contacted the complainant to enquire about her condition … The complainant indicated that she was doing fine,” he said.

He said the police had provided the casino with a case number and also viewed video footage of the incident.