Published
on Wednesday, 01 August 2012 11:04
Three
police officers and a clerk have pleaded
not guilty to charges relating to the rape of a woman in the toilet of a police
station and the filming of it.
Theodore
Syster, Jaede Fillies, Beverly Carelse and Theo van
Wyk – appeared in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday. The State alleges
that on June 15, 2010 Syster raped the woman in a
toilet at Elsies River police station after he and Fillies “kidnapped” her and
her boyfriend. Fillies had allegedly filmed part of the ordeal on a cellphone.
At the
time of the incident, all of the men were police officers, with the exception
of Carelse, who was an admin clerk. They face a host of charges relating to the
incident, with Syster and Fillies facing seven counts each, Van Wyk
three and Carelse two. In court on Wednesday, all four pleaded not guilty to
all the charges.
The
woman’s boyfriend, who was not present during the alleged rape, then took the
stand, telling of how “powerless” they had felt at the hands of the officers. As an order of court,
neither of them may be named to protect the rape survivor’s identity. He
testified that he was married and that he
had been having an affair with the woman.
On
June 15, 2010 they bought burgers at a fast food chain before parking nearby in
a dark, quiet spot in Viking Park, Elsies River. They had been kissing, he
said, when an unmarked car pulled up beside them. Two uniformed policemen,
Syster and Fillies, had got out. The officers had taken his girlfriend in their
car, while he followed behind in his own.
At
the police station, they had pleaded for the policemen to let them go, he said.
However, Syster had repeatedly told him that he was going to “lock me up”.
After being held in a cell for a while, he
had been released, paid a R100 fine for public nuisance and was told to leave.
He testified that Syster said they would drop his girlfriend off at home and
that he was warned to leave before he was locked up again.
The
following day, he said, she told him that Syster had raped her at the police
station. It is the State’s case that while Van Wyk had known about the rape and
the video, he had lied about it in a sworn statement. Syster, Fillies and
Carelse had also tried to coerce the woman into dropping the rape case.
Cape
Times
