Cop held after rape suspect escapes

Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid.

Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid.

Published Apr 17, 2015

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Johannesburg - A Soweto police officer has been arrested after a rape suspect escaped under his watch. The officer had initially laid a charge of escaping under lawful custody against the suspect.

But a few hours later he was thrown behind bars and charged with aiding and abetting the escape of a suspect.

He appeared in court on Thursday, but was freed after a prosecutor declined to prosecute. The officer was expected to report for duty on Friday.

Spokesman for the provincial police Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said: “We are continuing with internal investigations on the circumstances regarding the escape.”

Vusumzi Sikhosana was arrested for housebreaking and rape and detained at Moroka police station. It has been alleged that he raped a woman who was known to him and stole her two cellphones.

On Wednesday, two police officers took him to Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital for his blood to be drawn for DNA.

However, late in the afternoon, one of the two officers arrived at Moroka police station, saying Sikhosana had escaped and he wanted to lay a charge against him.

A source, who did not want to be identified, said the officers at the charge office wanted to know why he would drive all the way to Moroka police station instead of laying a charge in Diepkloof, which is closer to where the crime happened. They refused to open the case and sent him to Diepkloof police station.

At Diepkloof police station, the officer allegedly claimed his partner had left him with the suspect in the car at the hospital. He said it seemed as if the handcuffs had not been secured properly on Sikhosana because he managed to get out of the car and fled.

The Star contacted the National Prosecuting Authority’s Phindi Louw to find out the reasons for the prosecutor’s refusal to prosecute. She had not got hold of the prosecutor at the time of publication.

Dlamini said they had started with the disciplinary proceedings against the cop.

His partner hadn’t been charged.

Anyone with information regarding Sikhosana’s whereabouts should contact the police.

[email protected]

The Star

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