Defence happy after captain accused of raping trainee at Tshwane Police Academy is granted bail
A 59-year-old police captain accused of raping and sexually assaulting two trainees at the Tshwane Police Training Academy has been released on bail.
He appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Monday for the outcome of his bail application.
The police captain is an instructor at the academy located in Pretoria West, is facing charges of rape and sexual assault.
The magistrate granted the accused R8 000 bail, a decision welcomed by his legal team.
Rape accused Tshwane Police Training Academy captain granted bail
Attorney Andrew Maoba told eNCA on Monday that the defence did not believe there was a basis for the state to oppose the officer's release on bail.
'We had foreseen that there was no need for these bail proceedings in any event to be opposed because the law in respect of bail is quite trite in South Africa, and it's not digging into the guilt or the innocence of the accused person.
'The test for bail proceedings, as we have indicated in court, substantiated with a case law, is whether the accused person or the applicant will stand trial, and he will not evade liability,' he said.
Maoba further stated that the court's ruling indicated the strength of the bail application put forward by the defence.
'Unsurprisingly, the magistrate granted my client bail today.'
ALSO READ: Police sergeant abuses power, gets 20 years for raping victim inside police station
Meanwhile, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) expressed concern over the allegations and encouraged trainees to speak out.
'The trainees at all various academics must not feel intimidated. When there are such incidents, they must come out, not die in silence and report them,' Gauteng deputy chairperson Solly Mathe said.
Mathe added that Popcru had called on the South African Police Service (Saps) to implement preventative measures.
'They must create a space where it would be easy for trainees to come out and report such incident because we totally condemn this action.'
Rape incident
It is alleged that on 6 May, the captain called a 20-year-old trainee into his office while she was walking with her colleagues to their sleeping quarters.
While in the office, the accused locked the door and told the trainee that if she did not sleep with him, he would issue her a misconduct letter related to an incident from April, during which the police captain accused her of failing to salute him.
A second trainee came forward with allegations that the same captain sexually assaulted her in March this year, following his arrest on 7 May.
More victims may still come forward as the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) continues its investigation into other possible incidents.
READ MORE: Mpumalanga teen girl sends police on a hunt for her rapist, but she lied
The police officer has since been suspended.
According to the police, Gauteng recorded the highest number of reported rape cases involving police officers in the previous financial year, with just under 30 cases.
While other provinces saw a decline in such incidents, Gauteng experienced an increase of approximately 35%.
Notably, more of these cases involved officers allegedly committing rape while on duty, compared to those reported while they were off duty.
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