Botho Molosankwe
A 23-YEAR-old Soweto man is back behind bars after escaping from custody the day he was due to appear in court for allegedly raping a friend’s lover.
Police are, however, still baffled at how he managed to escape from the Jabulani police station.
“We don’t know what happened. When officers called his name and he did not answer, they realised he was not there. We are investigating how he escaped,” police spokesman Warrant Officer Kay Makhubela said.
According to the police, the man’s friend, who was with his girlfriend at the time, asked for accommodation at the suspect’s house in Zola on October 29.
The suspect then left them sleeping alone in the house. The next morning, the friend left his lover still sleeping, but it is not known where he went.
The suspect allegedly found the woman sleeping alone and got into bed with her.
“The woman claimed she woke up to find the suspect on top of her. She started pushing the guy off, screaming. But the guy said it was pointless for her to scream and that she might as well let him finish,” Makhubela said.
After the alleged rape, the woman went straight to Jabulani police station to lay a charge. Police went to the suspect’s house and found him sleeping. They arrested him.
But, Makhubela said, on October 31 when he was to make his first appearance at the Protea Magistrate’s Court, he had escaped from custody.
Police eventually found him hiding in a shack in Dobsonville.
The man will face charges of rape and escaping from custody when he appears in the Protea Magistrate’s Court today.