A Free State constable has been granted bail after alleged rape of TUT student.
Image: File
A 25-year-old police constable has been granted R1,500 bail by the Bethlehem Magistrate's Court after being charged with the alleged rape of a 23-year-old student from the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).
The constable, stationed at the Bethlehem Crime Prevention Unit in the Free State, was arrested following the alleged incident on Saturday, February 22, 2026.
Independent Police Investigative Directorate spokesperson Lizzy Suping said the officer fetched the complainant from her residence before driving to a park in Morelig Park.
"According to the allegations, he asked the student to sleep with him, but she refused. The constable then allegedly drove her to a nearby graveyard, where he is accused of raping her," said Suping
The victim opened a case the same day and the constable was subsequently charged with rape.
Suping added that the case has been postponed to April 25, 2026, for further investigations.
In another case in Limpopo, a 38-year-old man was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of raping his 13-year-old stepdaughter.
The identity of the man has been withheld to protect the victim from secondary victimisation.
The court heard that the incident took place in January 2024 at Gedroogte village in Magatle.
On the day of the attack, the teenager and her mother were doing laundry while the accused worked in the garden. After finishing the washing, the mother left to charge her phone at a neighbour’s house, leaving the child alone with the man
"The victim went to bathe in her mother’s bedroom. The accused followed her and raped her," said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Mashudu Malabi.
Malabi said after the ordeal, the teenager ran to her mother’s aunt and reported what had happened. The aunt accompanied her to the police station to open a case.
The man was arrested two days later and remained in custody until the conclusion of the trial.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge.
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