Sticks and stones may break your bones but nasty words will cost you.

A Pretoria woman who was called a ‘magosha’, roughly translated as ‘loose woman’ or prostitute, has been awarded R50 000 after being verbally abused by members of the South African Police Services (SAPS). They will have to cough up the money after a court ruled in Charlene Stoker’s favour.

Stoker and her husband were sat in their car back in 2009 when they were approached by officers. TimesLive reports:

…Stoker sworn at, with police officers labelling her a prostitute.

Stoker’s husband was handcuffed, pepper sprayed and dragged to a police van where he was thrown in and taken to a police station.

…Stoker suffered from behavioural problems, flashbacks, a loss of sleep, social withdrawal and anxiety as a consequence of the incident.

She had initially sought R500 000 in damages but settled for R50 000 in order to put the incident behind her.

Three weeks ago a pub owner in Bloemfontein was forced to pay R80 000 compensation to a man he racially abused with the k-word. The man abused, Gilbert Makanda, has since donated the money to a charity.

[source:timeslive]