Russel de Beer’s damages case arose from his arrest at a cannabis farm in Kameeldrift in February 2004.[1][2]

Russel Brent de Beer farmed cannabis, known generally as dagga, at the Kameeldrift farm near Rustenburg, claiming to grow it for research purposes under a permit acquired by the Agricultural Research Centre.[1] After an informant claimed to have bought dagga from him, Inspector Westmaas, the branch commander of the Assen police station, tried to verify whether such a permit existed and found nothing.[1]

The 2004 raid

Westmaas obtained a search warrant and visited the farm with fellow officers on 9 February 2004.[1] The dagga plants were growing openly on the farm, and officers also found dagga seed in a bath, dagga leaves in containers in the kitchen and elsewhere, and an envelope addressed to a person overseas containing cardboard protecting dagga seeds.[1] De Beer could not produce a permit on the farm, showed only a file of research from 2000 to 2001, and named a Dr Joubert at the Agricultural Research Centre who proved uncontactable that day.[1][2] He told police his kitchen served as his laboratory and that the cannabis crop had been planted by the council in 2002, while also saying he had imported cannabis from France to test whether it acclimatised.[1][2]

Westmaas arrested de Beer and took him to the Assen police station, where he was charged with contravening the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act and detained overnight.[1] He was released on R8,000 bail the next day at the Brits magistrate’s court, appeared in court six times afterwards, and the charges were withdrawn about a year later when a permit to conduct research, issued to the Agricultural Research Centre by the Department of Health, was found.[1][2] The permit had in fact been in existence at the time of the arrest, though on its face it appeared to have expired.[1]

Damages claim dismissed

De Beer sued the Minister of Safety and Security for malicious prosecution, initially claiming R620,000 for legal expenses and damages, with a second R2-million claim mooted for his collapsed business.[1][2] The North Gauteng High Court dismissed the action, finding reasonable grounds for the suspicion against him and no malice on the police’s part.[1] On 3 September 2010 the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal with costs.[1] The court held Westmaas reasonably believed an offence was being committed: the farm showed no sign of research, de Beer’s account shifted between commercial growing and a research facility, and he made no effort to help verify the permit, contacting a journalist instead.[1]