Kimberley - A man has been arrested and is expected to appear in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday following allegations of an attempted rape and rape of two patients at the Careline Clinic in the city.
Police spokesperson, Captain Olebogeng Tawana, confirmed on Tuesday that a suspect, who is believed to have been an employee of the clinic, was arrested and will appear in court on Wednesday. It is believed that the suspect resigned soon after the alleged incident.
Careline Clinic’s client services clinician, Sister N Visagie, said on Tuesday that the management of the clinic had encouraged two female patients to open alleged attempted rape and rape cases with the police last Wednesday.
“The South African Police Services are investigating the cases,” said Visagie.
She stated that Careline Clinic management and staff were fully committed to upholding human dignity through a caring healing service for all their patients and continuously striving to provide a safe and therapeutic environment.
“All our staff are specifically prohibited from entering any love/sexual relationship with patients. Special care is taken when recruiting as well as orientation of employees.”
Visagie added that specific Careline clinicians remained available to the affected patients for appropriate intervention.
A family member of one of the victims said on Tuesday that it was suspected that the alleged rapist might have given his victim water that had been spiked.
“On the night of the incident, she couldn’t sleep so she went to the nurses’ station, where the man was working, and told him. He told her to sit on the couch until she fell asleep and said he would then come and tuck her in. She didn’t want to watch television, so she went to her room. He followed her and then tucked her into bed - like a child -and kissed her on her lips, before stating that she aroused him.”
According to the family member, the man, who was apparently a caregiver at the clinic, then brought her a glass of water and told her to drink it.
“She asked him why he had given her water because she didn’t ask for any and he said that it would make her sleepy. She drank about half of the contents and then afterwards realised that, although she was fully aware of what was going on, she couldn’t move any part of her body.”
She stated that a while later, the man came into the room and closed the curtain, before allegedly raping her.
“She told us that she tried to scream - her mouth was open but she couldn’t get any sound out."
“Initially she didn’t want to say anything to the management because she was so upset but then realised that he had tried the same thing on another 18-year-old patient.”
According to the family member, the suspect, who normally only worked night shift, arrived in the morning before he was due to go on duty and handed in his resignation.