Cop accused of raping prisoner

2007-02-26 20:02

Thabisile Khoza

Komatipoort - A police constable accused of raping a woman prisoner in a police van has been released on warning.

Mpumalanga police said that early on Friday morning when the constable allegedly took a 25-year-old woman from Komatipoort police holding cells to a van and had sex with her for about two hours.

Michael Ngomane of Komatipoort police said the 30-year-old constable was arrested after a male prisoner alerted the station commissioner.

Police took the woman prisoner to a doctor who confirmed she had had penetrative sex.

The constable appeared in Komatipoort magistrate's court on Friday in connection with a charge of rape and was released on warning to appear again on April 17.

Claims they were having affair

Ngomane said the male prisoner claimed it was not the first time the constable had taken the woman out of the cells.

The constable later alleged he and the woman had been having an affair and she supported his claim.

The woman, who was an awaiting-trial prisoner, had been arrested in January in connection with a charge of assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm.

Captain Amos Mashele of Lowveld area police said on Monday police had decided to charge the constable with rape because the incident happened on police property.

The constable would not be suspended until the case had been finalised, he said.

Captain Million Khumalo of Komatipoort police station said police would not tolerate members who broke the law.

Woman in male cell

"We won't rest until they comply with police rules and regulations," he said.

The incident follows the alleged rape of a woman prisoner by six men in an all-male police cell at Volksrust police station 10 days ago.

The 27-year-old woman allegedly was raped throughout the night of February 16 and released by police only the next morning.

Two of the four police officers on duty that night were suspended last week after parliament demanded a full investigation into why the woman prisoner was kept in a cell with men.

- African Eye