Silence and buck-passing have been the official response to the alleged rape of former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown in the back of a police van more than a month ago.
Brown (37) was re-arrested in Cape Town on May 9 on fresh charges of fraud, theft and money-laundering involving the company Antheru. He had been out on R1,5-million bail after his arrest last year on similar charges relating to Fidentia.
William Booth, who has stepped down as Brown’s lawyer because of the latter’s lack of funds, said: ”We have heard nothing from the department of correctional services or the police responsible for transporting [Brown] despite this matter [of the alleged assault] being widely publicised.”
Department and police representatives said people who report sexual assaults in custody are entitled to medical and legal assistance from the state. Yet Brown’s case appears to reflect official avoidance of the issue of male rape.
He was allegedly assaulted by fellow prisoners while being transported from the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court to Pollsmoor Prison on May 12.
”The police sexual offences unit was quite prompt in arranging for a district surgeon to see him, taking a statement and starting an investigation. But that was all,” said Booth.
The department and the police have absolved themselves of responsibility for post-rape care for Brown, each saying he was in the custody of the other.
District surgeon Paul Theron told the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court that Brown ”was not sodomised by a penis, but by a foreign object”.
Booth believes several prisoners were involved, pinning Brown down in the van during the assault.
Booth said his former client spent the night of the assault at Pollsmoor’s hospital facility. However, he did not inform the authorities of the assault ”because I believe he was quite humiliated and also feared retaliation from the gangster element at Pollsmoor”.
Booth said Brown disclosed the full extent of the alleged assault before his court appearance the following day. ”I noticed cuts and scratches on his face and what appeared to be a dislodged tooth — and he told me that he had been raped.”
Booth said he immediately notified the Scorpions investigating the case and arranged for a private doctor to examine his client. Brown was treated by a physician, a surgeon and a psychiatrist and was put on anti-retroviral treatment and psychiatric medication for post-traumatic stress.
He said neither the department nor the police offered psychological counselling or medical treatment.
Police spokesperson Captain Khumiso Seketema said anyone who reported rape while in police custody was given medical treatment, including trauma counselling and antiretroviral treatment if required. He said legal aid would also be provided at the victim’s request.
However, Seketema insisted that ”according to our information Brown was being transported in a department of correctional services vehicle”. Correctional services spokesperson Phumlani Ximiya countered that Brown was in police custody at the time of the alleged incident.
Seketema said there was no official countrywide record of the number of rapes reported in police custody: ”We would have to go to each police station in the country to find out how many were reported.”
Brown’s new attorney, Joseph Weeber, said he could not comment on the possibility of legal action against the prisons or police services as he had just been appointed.