'No mercy' for cop law-breakers
2007-02-27 18:50
Komatipoort - Cops who break the law will be shown no mercy, Mpumalanga's police chief has warned.
Provincial commissioner Afrika Khumalo was reacting to reports that a police constable in Komatipoort had been charged with rape after allegedly having sex in a police van with a woman prisoner whom he claimed was his lover.
Khumalo's spokesperson, superintendent Sibongile Nkosi, said on Tuesday the commissioner viewed the incident in a serious light.
"The suspect will be suspended without pay to give others a lesson that crime doesn't pay in our country," said Nkosi.
"Our office already is drafting suspension documents that will be sent to the suspect soon and we expect him to respond before 10:00 this Friday."
The constable would appear before a disciplinary hearing, Nkosi added.
Not the first time - prisoner
The 30-year-old constable, who is based at Komatipoort police station, appeared in the magistrate's court last Friday in connection with a charge of rape. He was released on warning to appear again on April 17.
Michael Ngomane of Komatipoort police said the constable allegedly removed a 25-year-old woman prisoner from the police holding cells early on Friday morning, took her to a van and had sex with her.
The constable was arrested after a male prisoner, who saw the incident, alerted the station commissioner.
Police took the woman to a doctor who confirmed that she had had penetrative sex.
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 claimed he and the woman had been having an affair.
The woman, who was an awaiting-trial prisoner, was arrested in January in connection with a charge of assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm after her boyfriend was stabbed.
The Komatipoort case 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 was allegedly 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 an investigation into why the woman prisoner had been kept in a cell with men.