The rape saga of a Pretoria woman, who claims police officers sexually assaulted her, took a turn for the worse when the suspects were released.
The woman has accused police of deliberately not putting the suspects, who are all Rustenburg policemen, in the line-up which took place at the Brits police station yesterday.
A Rustenburg prosecutor earlier this week refused to put the case on the court roll so that an order could be obtained to compel the alleged rapist and three of his colleagues to stand in a line-up and give blood for DNA analysis.
The policeman's three colleagues are alleged to have sat in an office and ignored the woman's screams for help while she was raped in the bathroom of the Rustenburg police station in September.
Continues Below ↓
'This, however, does not mean our investigation is over' The woman eventually opened a case of rape at the Hercules police station after she was turned away by Tlhabane police station officers when she tried to open a case there.
Tlhabane police station is situated near the Rustenburg police station.
The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) took over the investigation after the police probe seemed to be going nowhere.
Because of the allegedly botched line-up, says the ICD, the suspects will be released and will not be expected to provide DNA samples.
The woman's attorney, Delia de Vries, yesterday said her client was adamant that the four policemen, including the alleged assailant, had not been in the line-up.
"When my client walked into the room and looked at the men, she said the policemen who had been involved in her attack were not there. She was told that they were, but she is adamant that they were not and that they were deliberately left out of the parade," she said.
"We will not give up even though my client is receiving death threats and has a mysterious white car, with no registration plates, parked outside her home every morning.
"There are people out there who are trying to intimidate my client but we will continue to pursue this matter to the very end," said De Vries.
ICD spokesman Moses Dlamini confirmed that the four policemen were not identified in the line-up.
"This, however, does not mean our investigation is over."
He said the men had been released and had been ruled out as suspects in the case.
-
This article was originally published on page 4 of The Star on November 14, 2009
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
