*Article has been updated
Pretoria – Private investigator Paul O'Sullivan's assistant Sarah-Jane Trent briefly appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, following her dramatic arrest on Friday afternoon.
Trent was charged for allegedly pretending to be an IPID official during an investigation into Acting Police Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane.
The case against Trent was postponed to May 2 for further investigations.
But Trent, speaking outside court, said she was also not entirely clear regarding the charges against her. She said it appeared that she was charged for fraud, as well as pretending to be an IPID official."These were "trumped-up charges," Trent added.
Trent was eventually released on R5 000 bail after a late night urgent application in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria on Sunday night.
She described her arrest as extremely traumatic, as she was driven around in the back of a police vehicle for hours. Trent on Tuesday said she was also taken to a petrol station in Marlboro, Johannesburg, where the police demanded to have her cellphone. When they realised she had left it at her office, she was taken back there to fetch it.
According to her the police illegally downloaded information from her phone, before taking her to the Kameeldrift Police Station.
O'Sullivan, who was subsequently arrested on Monday, allegedly on the same charges as Trent – on Tuesday attended her brief appearance in court, while sitting in the public gallery. He was released late on Monday night after his legal team also turned to the high court, as they wanted to bring it under the court's attention that there was an earlier order that O'Sullivan had to be given 48 hours notice to hand himself over to the police if there were any new warrants out for his arrest.
O'Sullivan on Tuesday commented that he will regularly be arrested and he will each time run to the courts to protect his rights.
He is looking into bringing a contempt of court application against the police.
According to him Phahlane is behind the arrests.