LEENTJE MCDONALD, 64, MISTAKEN FOR ALLEGED DRUG DEALER

A 64-YEAR-OLD grandmother who was arrested and strip searched for drugs on
a busy Sydney street in a police case of mistaken identity is suing the
state for false imprisonment and wrongful arrest.

Leentje McDonald was somehow mistaken by police for an alleged drug dealer
24 years her junior and shaken down outside a Maroubra pub in full public
view.

A statement of claim filed in the District Court alleges officers took her
belt off and put their hands underneath her clothes in the middle of the
footpath in broad daylight. When she screamed and tried to stop them they
pulled both her hands behind her back and pushed her to the ground.

They then arrested her and charged her with assaulting an officer.

Yet apparently Mrs McDonald's biggest crime was to miss her bus and duck
into the Maroubra Junction Hotel to play the pokies while she waited for
another one.

The publican had previously told police that he believed that drugs were
being sold by an Asian-looking woman on the premises.

When Mrs McDonald got up to leave she was seized by an undercover officer
and - despite her explaining they had the wrong woman - detained on the
corner of Maroubra Rd and Ferguson St. She was then searched by a female
officer who arrived shortly afterwards and was restrained by both of them.

Despite the incident occurring more than a year ago she says she has still
not received any apology from the police.

"I just want an apology and some recognition that I am suffering to this
day," she told The Daily Telegraph."I am in a lot of pain. I had a frozen
shoulder which they (the police) really hurt when they treated me so
roughly.

A spokesperson said NSW Police was unable to comment as the matter was
before the courts.

Mrs McDonald's lawyer George Newhouse said his client had offered to
resolve the matter amicably but police had refused.