Police did a thorough job investigating alleged rape of EC schoolgirl - AfriForum
On Friday, Afriforum's legal unit announced it would be taking action against some high-profile politicians who made defamatory comments against its client – the principal of Bergview College, Jaco Pieterse.
Jaco Pieterse, Principal of Bergview College in the Eastern Cape, outside the Sophiatown police station, where he laid crimen injuria charges against EFF leader Julius Malema, ANC SG Fikile Mbalula and Eastern Cape Education MEC Fundile Gade. Picture: Sphamandla Dlamini /EWN
JOHANNESBURG - AfriForum's Private Prosecution Unit believes the police did a thorough job in investigating the alleged high-profile rape case of seven-year-old Eastern Cape pupil, Cwecwe.
The case gripped the country a few months ago, with countrywide protests and numerous online campaigns calling for justice.
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However, the National Prosecuting Authority dropped the case, citing that there was insufficient evidence that the child was assaulted.
On Friday, AfriForum's legal unit announced it would be taking action against some high-profile politicians who made defamatory comments against its client, the principal of Bergview College, Jaco Pieterse.
Cwecwe was enrolled at the school when the rape occurred.
"You say the mother believes the child was raped, but the problem is the investigation that was conducted by the authorities and it was a thorough investigation. Claims that the police failed are simply untrue," said Barry Bateman, the unit's spokesperson.
"In the mother's own version, on the day she reported, the 16th of October, she was taken to the Thuthuzela Care Centre where the child was interviewed by a doctor, nurses and social workers. Despite all of this, there is no evidence that this child was raped. The police knew that when they submitted the docket at the end of November and the NPA knew it when they made a decision not to prosecute. Yet inexplicably, the matter was escalated and escalated, taken to various different forums and when the allegations were made public, they were not properly interrogated," Bateman said.