NHLANGANO – A police officer has been arrested and charged with the rape of two women.
Sandile Sihlongonyane (37) is alleged to have committed the offence on Thursday. He was brought to the Shiselweni Magistrates Court in Nhlangano by members of the Lukhozi Serious Crimes Unit on Thursday at 3:45pm. He appeared before Acting Magistrate Sifiso Ngwenya.
Members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) led one of their own into the dock and his charges were read to him. In Count One, the accused is alleged to have contravened Sections 3 (1) of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act of No.15, 2018. He is alleged to have had unlawful sexual intercourse with one of the complainants in March 2022 in Hlatikhulu in the Shiselweni Region.
In the second charge, Sihlongonyane allegedly had unlawful sexual intercourse with the second complainant on September 8, 2023 in Hlathikhulu. The identities of the two women will not be revealed for ethical reasons.
When the accused appeared at the magistrates court, he was remanded in custody until September 27, 2023 pending committal to the High Court. The accused is currently kept at His Majesty’s Correctional Services in Nhlangano.
Don’t use sharing as excuse to commit crime - NATCOM
National Commissioner (NATCOM) of Police, William Tsintsibala Dlamini has said officers should not use the sharing of an apartment as an excuse to commit crime. In an interview with Eswatini News yesterday, Dlamini who is the head of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), said in terms of the law, every offender, including police officers, would be arrested if they are found to have committed a crime.
“We have been engaging officers now and again on how to behave when sharing an apartment with colleagues and more than anything, we have overemphasised the need to always be custodians of the law as enforcers,” the police commissioner said.
Management
The Secretary General (SG) of the Royal Eswatini Police Services Staff Association (REPOSSA), Sergeant Dumisile Khumalo, previously informed this publication that police officers should no longer share houses. The SG alleged that senior management officers had been flooded with a litany of cases ranging from food theft and playing of music loud in the middle of the night.
Khumalo stated that sharing accommodation had not been easy for police officers. She said it was high time government considered alternative houses, like bedsitters. Khumalo said government should consider bedsitters and constructing them with immediate effect to avoid such situations. “The police flats can be designed to be bedsitters. It is better to live in a small bedsitter than to sleep in a big house whereby there would be daily squabbles between those who are sharing it,” Sergeant Khumalo was quoted to have said.
... faces over 36yrs in jail, if convicted
The accused police officer is facing a possible jail term of over 36 years, if found guilty. Section 3(1) of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act No.15 of 2018, under which the officer, Sandile Sihlongonyane, was charged states: A person who rapes another commits an offence of rape.
For purposes of this Act, the offence of rape is committed either by a male or female person against another person.
For the purpose of this section, rape is defined as an unlawful act with a person, and in the case of an unlawful sexual act, for the purposes of this part, constitutes a sexual act committed under any of the following circumstances; in any coercive circumstance or under false pretences or by fraudulent means or in respect of a person who is incapable in law of appreciating the nature of the sexual act.
Aggravating
Duress, psychologic oppression, or fear of violence, the section stipulates that any person who contravenes Subsection (1) under the circumstances where there are no aggravating factors, as referred to under the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of 1938 shall, on conviction, be liable to a term of imprisonment of; if the victim is an adult at the time of the offence, not exceeding 18 years in the case of a first offender and in the case of a subsequent offence, not exceeding 25 years.
Further, where it is established that the rape was committed with aggravating factors, as refereed to under the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, shall, on conviction, be liable to a term of imprisonment of; if the victim was an adult at the time of the offence, not exceeding 20 years in the case of first offender and in the case of a subsequent offence, not exceeding 30 years.