The two police constables who were on duty at Volksrust police station in Mpumalanga when a 24-year-old woman was gang raped after being locked up in a cell with six men, have been suspended.
‘The acting provincial police commissioner signed their suspensions yesterday [Tuesday] and they were effective immediately,†said Mpumalanga Senior Superintendent Sibongile Nkosi.
The woman was arrested last Friday night for public drunkenness and detained in a female holding cell, into which the six drunken men were then placed. They took turns raping her until the next morning.
The police officers on duty claimed not to have heard or seen anything out of the ordinary during the woman’s six-hour ordeal. Their excuse for violating a standing order on gender segregation in cells was that the light fitting in the cell was broken, and they did not notice that the other prisoners were men.
‘For the constables to give such a poor reason is not sufficient, and the station commissioner is at fault here too by not making sure that his station is in perfect working order,†says Dikeledi Phiri, the communications manager for the Independent Complaints Directorate.
It is both a national and an international norm that male and female prisoners should be held separately and that cells be inspected hourly, says Nkosi. ‘The cells are meant to be checked hourly and the officers are meant to document anything out of order in the Occurrence Book — but none of that was done.â€
The Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre has written a letter to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula and police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, expressing outrage that a police station should be the scene of a crime. The letter was endorsed by 15 civil society organisations who advocate ending violence against women, including Cape Town Rape Crisis, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies and Men as Partners.
They are also demanding answers to whether the police have provided the woman with post- exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent pregnancy and HIV, and whether she will be given ongoing counselling and psychological support. In the open letter, Tshwaranang also questions why Nqakula and Selebi have yet to comment on the incident. ‘Please could you inform us what stance the ministry and commissioner’s office takes on incidents of this nature?†reads the letter.
Nkosi says the woman was taken to hospital and was examined by a doctor after the rape. ‘Unfortunately I cannot tell you if the woman received PEP, only the doctor can tell you that. But I do know that she did get counselled on that Saturday.†Nkosi adds that the woman was offered further counselling — at the very station were the crime occurred — but that she had ‘not shown upâ€.
In addition to the Independent Complaints Directorate’s misconduct investigation, the police will initiate a criminal investigation into the matter, and the constables could be charged as accessories to rape. ‘We will also be monitoring the ensuing criminal investigation that will be handled by the South African Police Service,†added Phiri.
The six rape suspects were charged and appeared in court last Monday. They will be remanded in custody until a formal bail hearing scheduled for February 26.