WOMAN SUSPECT RAPED AT POLICE STATION

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.

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