Times Of Swaziland: WOMAN SUSPECT RAPED  AT POLICE STATION

WOMAN SUSPECT RAPED  AT POLICE STATION
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Mnelisi Dlamini on 03/12/2024 15:49:00


MBABANE – A woman was allegedly raped at Matsapha Police Station on Sunday
night.
The purported rape happened at a time when the country has launched the 16 Days
of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, under the local theme: ‘Together
let us end Gender-Based Violence (GBV)/ Sisonke’.  The 16 Days of Activism is
a global initiative that seeks to raise awareness, promote advocacy and inspire
action to combat GBV. The woman was purportedly sexually violated overnight at
the police station, after being arrested for theft under false pretences.
According to sources, females arrested at the police station are kept in holding
cells which are not locked. The sources claimed that the woman had been kept
overnight as she could not raise an admission of guilt fine for her offence.
They claimed that as she awaited her fate in court yesterday, a male suspect was
taken into the police station for housebreaking charges.
Docket
The male suspect was said to have been brought in by community police from one
of the townships within the constituency. It was established that while his
docket was being processed, the male suspect was kept at a barricaded passage,
which has access to the females’ holding cell. The sources claimed that the
reason the male suspect was not locked in holding cells was that they were
locked and the whereabouts of the key that could unlock them was unknown. They
claimed that because male-accused persons were not held in locked cell, they can
gain access to those designated to females at any instance. Meanwhile, some
personnel within the police station have questioned how the ordeal could have
happened without police officers on duty being alerted to the offence.
Rhetorically, they questioned if she had raised the alarm and if the police
officers had heard it.
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Senior Superintendent
Phindile Vilakati confirmed that allegations of rape were reported. She said:
“The allegation was reported and the complainant was taken for medical
check-ups as part of the investigation. We are still investigating.” Vilakati
said the male suspect was eventually charged with the offence of housebreaking,
which he had been brought in for at the police station.She said, on the other
hand, the female complainant, who reported the rape, was taken to hospital and
returned to the police station for her initial charge. Vilakati also confirmed
that the holding cell assigned to female suspects was not locked.
Vilakati said given that the matter is still under investigation, she could not
comment further, lest the enquiry into the matter be compromised. It is worth
noting that the Matsapha Police Station, in January 2021, had a similar incident
where a police officer based at the police station was arrested for allegedly
raping a female suspect inside a holding cell. The law enforcer was arrested and
subsequently charged with rape under the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence
(SODV) Act of 2018. His offence was accompanied by aggravating circumstances in
that the accused allegedly caused physical and mental trauma to the complainant
and that he did not use any protection, thus exposing the alleged survivor to
the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections.
Arrest
The arrest of the law enforcer came hardly two weeks after the arrest of two
officers from the same police station. The two officers, Mbongeni Sichaba
Dlamini and Nkosingiphile Mavolovolo Mkhonta are alleged to have stolen 22 bags
of dagga. The police station is not new to controversy, as in September 2022,
foul play was suspected in the escape of three suspects, who were considered
dangerous. The trio was part of seven suspects arrested for alleged illegal
possession of guns, armed robberies and attempted murder.
They were said to have walked out of the police station.
It is worth noting that last week Thursday, the National Commissioner (NATCOM)
of Police, Vusi Manoma Masango, announced overall crime statistics for the
period January 2024 to date, standing at 48 452 compared to 42 209 during the
same period in 2023. This, he said, reflected a 15 per cent increase in reported
crimes. Masango said serious crimes have risen by two per cent, which
highlighted the urgent need for effective strategies to tackle persistent crimes
such as murder, rape, stock theft and copper theft. The police reported that
rape increased by 4.4 per cent, as it increased from 205 cases recorded in 2023
during the second quarter, while this year, in the same period, 214 cases were
recorded.
According to the police, GBV in the country continues to increase despite the
numerous awareness campaigns meant to sensitise the communities on how to
protect themselves and their loved ones from falling victims of such crimes.
They reported that 1 417 cases were recorded compared to 1 323 cases recorded
last year under the same period, depicting an increase of 13.2 per cent. On the
other hand, they reported that passion killings showed a decrease of 57 per
cent, as six cases were recorded in this reporting quarter against 14 cases
recorded in the parallel quarter last year.