KEY POINTS
- Former sergeant gets lengthy prison term for Kei Mouth rape.
- Victim’s cries for help met with mockery by colleagues.
- Court highlighted the severe abuse of his position.
In a case that shocked the Kei Mouth community and raised serious questions about the integrity of the police force, former police sergeant Thembalethu Gqeku, 50, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the brutal rape of a 17-year-old woman inside the detectives’ office of the Kei Mouth Police Station.
Former sergeant gets lengthy prison term.
This unsettling event, which happened on August 8, 2022, was a serious betrayal of the confidence that the community, to whom the police officer made an oath, placed in him. Following a challenging and intricate legal battle in which the devastated victim valiantly fought to protect her fundamental rights, the court handed down its verdict this week.
Because the victim was unable to communicate during the court proceedings and required psychological and clinical therapy before the case could move forward in the legal system, the National Prosecuting Authority initially dropped the charges against Gqeku. The young woman courageously retaliated against her attacker in a last-ditch effort to flee the horrific circumstance, injuring Gqeku with an empty bottle before she cried out for assistance at the police station’s main charge office area.
Gqeku repeatedly insisted on his innocence throughout the trial, claiming he had been assaulted and that the young woman had been under the influence of illegal narcotics at the time of the occurrence.
Court emphasized abuse of authority.
According to Iol, the complainant had no drugs in her system at the time of the assault, according to a thorough medical report that the state authorities provided. Magistrate Joseph Govuza emphasized the egregious aggravating circumstances in his sentencing, highlighting Gqeku’s abuse of power and the institution that is supposed to protect the weak. Tragically, the victim, who was the same age as Gqeku’s kid, thought that the police station was a safe place to go for assistance.
