Johannesburg - The North West police are taking disciplinary action against a police officer who had sex with an inmate and impregnated her.
However, the officer is still at work and not suspended. The woman, on the other hand, was slapped with a 30-year sentence for murder last month.
Spokesperson for the North West police Colonel Adéle Myburg said the police officer is a sergeant based at the Stilfontein police ptation.
According to Myburg, the officer is alleged to have slept with the inmate at the Stilfontein police holding cells on October 3 last year.
It was when she went for a doctor’s appointment in March that the inmate found out that she is pregnant.
While the woman was impregnated by the officer, Myburgh said she did not file a criminal complaint against him but just revealed that he was the father of her unborn child and that they had sex in the holding cells.
“I can confirm that a departmental investigation, which was instituted against the member in terms of the SAPS discipline regulations, has been completed and the hearing will soon commence.
“The member is not on suspension,” Myburgh added
The woman was transferred after her 30-year prison sentence for murder was handed down last month.
Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said information at their disposal was that the police officer used to transport the woman to court for her trial.
Nxumalo said the department did not have many facilities that catered for female inmates or those awaiting trial and therefore, the facility in which she was held was far from court.
As a result, he said, the officer would fetch the woman about three days before her appearance in court, book her into the holding cells of the police station where he worked at then take her to court on the day of her trial.
“A statement by the now-sentenced inmate is vivid on the activities leading to the day of the sexual encounter. Her statement and our records corresponds in affirming that the sexually activity happened outside our care and not in our premises.
“Correctional Services does not transport remand detainees to court. As already indicated, there are records indicating when the inmate was moved from our facility and brought back,” Nxumalo said.
IOL