Three police officers and a clerk have pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the rape of a woman in the toilet of a police station and the filming of it.
Theodore Syster, Jaede Fillies, Beverly Carelse and Theo van Wyk – appeared in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.
The State alleges that on June 15, 2010 Syster raped the woman in a toilet at Elsies River police station after he and Fillies “kidnapped” her and her boyfriend.
Fillies had allegedly filmed part of the ordeal on a cellphone.
At the time of the incident, all of the men were police officers, with the exception of Carelse, who was an admin clerk.
They face a host of charges relating to the incident, with Syster and Fillies facing seven counts each, Van Wyk three and Carelse two.
In court on Wednesday, all four pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The woman’s boyfriend, who was not present during the alleged rape, then took the stand, telling of how “powerless” they had felt at the hands of the officers. As an order of court, neither of them may be named to protect the rape survivor’s identity.
He testified that he was married and that he had been having an affair with the woman.
On June 15, 2010 they bought burgers at a fast food chain before parking nearby in a dark, quiet spot in Viking Park, Elsies River.
They had been kissing, he said, when an unmarked car pulled up beside them. Two uniformed policemen, Syster and Fillies, had got out.
The officers had taken his girlfriend in their car, while he followed behind in his own.
At the police station, they had pleaded for the policemen to let them go, he said. However, Syster had repeatedly told him that he was going to “lock me up”.
After being held in a cell for a while, he had been released, paid a R100 fine for public nuisance and was told to leave.
He testified that Syster said they would drop his girlfriend off at home and that he was warned to leave before he was locked up again.
The following day, he said, she told him that Syster had raped her at the police station.
It is the State’s case that while Van Wyk had known about the rape and the video, he had lied about it in a sworn statement. Syster, Fillies and Carelse had also tried to coerce the woman into dropping the rape case.
Cape Times