Insult has been added to injury for the 24-year-old woman who survived a horrific gang rape in a cell at the Volksrust police station last month. First the prosecution of the police on duty that night was bungled by poor investigation, now she is being forced to pay a R50 fine for public drunkenness.
Superintendent Sibongile Nkosi, spokesperson for the provincial police commissioner, said: ‘The woman was arrested and charged already before being locked up.â€
Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether the police officers will be criminally charged. Nkosi claims that the directorate of public prosecutions declined to prosecute the two constables who were on duty that night. But advocate Francois de Beer of the directorate denies this. ‘A decision has not been made. Instead, we have returned the docket to the investigating officer for further investigation. Secondly, no formal criminal charge can been made until the investigation is thoroughly done,†adds De Beer.
‘This is news to us,†said a puzzled Nkosi. The suspended constables appeared before an internal disciplinary hearing yesterday. It is not clear when the outcome of the hearing will be made public.
The woman was arrested for public drunkenness on February 16 and detained in a female holding cell, into which the officers on duty placed six drunken men. The men gang raped her but the constables claimed not to have heard or seen anything out of the ordinary.