Andy Kawa’s fight for justice lasted nearly 15 years.
On Wednesday, the police ministry was finally ordered to pay up nearly R26m in damages for the SAPS’s failure to properly investigate her case.
The Herald took a look back at some of the key events in Kawa’s journey to justice.
In December 2010, Kawa was abducted and repeatedly raped at Kings Beach.
After years of the investigation into Kawa’s rape remaining stagnant, Moses Gqesha was arrested in June 2020 for stealing a lawnmower in Newton Park.
His DNA taken for purposes of the theft investigation was later linked to the samples taken from Kawa after her rape.
It took two years for his DNA to match, and another year for the police to find him and arrest him for the rape.
In March 2025, after months of gruelling testimony, he was finally convicted, and in May he was sentenced by the Gqeberha high court to eight life terms (one life term per rape count).
The civil claim against the police also dragged on.
In November 2013, Kawa launched a damages claim against the police ministry, originally seeking R5.8m. Later, the amount increased.
In November 2018, she had her first win in the Gqeberha high court when a judge found the police negligent.
In May 2020, Kawa suffered another setback when the ruling was taken on appeal by the state to the Supreme Court of Appeal, where the high court’s findings were overturned.
Not giving up, in April 2022, Kawa took her fight all the way to the Constitutional Court.
The highest court in SA upheld Kawa’s appeal, finding the police had been negligent in their investigation.
This was deemed a landmark ruling on police duties in gender-based violence investigations.
On Wednesday, a settlement agreement was reached in the Gqeberha high court, awarding Kawa a significant sum for the damages caused.
The Herald
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