Jul 23 2008 11:33:07:387PM
Linda de Beer
A former policeman has told of his nightmare in a crowded cell where
he had to fend off cellmates who tried to rape him.
Rustenburg - A hunting trip turned into a nightmare for a former
police officer when he was kept in a crowded cell for a weekend for
crimen injuria, along with people who assaulted him and wanted to rape
him.
Sakkie van der Mescht, 37, of Rustenburg, North West, allegedly was
assaulted repeatedly in the cells.
He said that, among other abuses, he was stabbed in the head with a
knife and another sharp object.
His cellmates also tried to rape him, but he fought with all his might
to prevent this.
A knife was held to his genitals while the men threatened to cut them off.
After this, he had to sit on the cold cell floor for a long time
before his clothes were given back to him, said Van der Mescht on
Monday.
Having nightmares
Van der Mescht, a father of two, did not eat or drink anything for the
whole weekend.
His cellmates apparently ejaculated in the water that was offered to him.
He said the police visited the cell only once every morning and once
every evening.
Since his experience at the end of June, nightmares have been
preventing Van der Mescht from sleeping.
His lawyer, Carl Arnold, said they were waiting on the test results
for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections because of the dirty
knife that was used on Van der Mescht.
On June 27, Van der Mescht was part of a group who went hunting in the
Madikwe Trust area.
He was at their camp when two fellow hunters in a bakkie were stopped by police.
They were unable to show the licence of another hunter's firearm that
was in the car.
After an assurance that someone would go to show them the licence, the
police left without taking further action.
Arnold said Van der Mescht and another man drove after the police with
the other hunter's firearm licence and identity document, but they
repeatedly ignored him when he tried to show the documents to them.
Until March, Van der Mescht had been the police's appointed firearm
official in Rustenburg. He works at presnt as a security manger for a
hotel group.
Thrown into van
Van der Mescht and the driver of the bakkie he was in, stopped at a
place where a few police vehicles were standing next to the road.
Some of the police officers apparently stormed at Van der Mescht. The
door of the bakkie was yanked open and he was jerked out by the arm.
Van der Mescht said he told them he did not appreciate their actions.
At that, he was thrown into the back of a police van.
They apparently drove around with him for more than an hour before he
was taken to Madikwe police station.
He said: "I was arrested for crimen injuria and intimidation."
Van der Mescht's wife was chased from the police station when she
wanted to see her husband on the Saturday. She apparently also was
threatened with arrest.
On June 30, Van der Mescht pleaded guilty in Madikwe Magistrate's
Court to a charge of crimen injuria, after he apparently was
threatened with another seven days in the cells.
Arnold said they were appealing against this verdict which pronounced
Van der Mescht guilty.
Regular cell visits
North West police's Captain Aafje Botma said Van der Mescht apparently
threatened and swore at the police officer when they were driving next
to each other.
She said he was taken to a local clinic so his injuries could be treated.
Police denied they had kept his wife away and said they had visited
the cells every hour.
Botma did not answer a question about how a sharp object got into the cell.
Read the story online:
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2362959,00.html
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