False Rape Cases

This is the stern warning from Capt Alfred Moela, spokesman for the Lydenburg SAPS.

Moela reacted to an incident where a 16-year-old pupil reported a false rape case at the Lydenburg Police Station on August 1.

According to him, she alleged that she was raped by three males at Kellysville.

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“Investigations revealed that she was not telling the truth, as she couldn’t point to the crime scene where she was allegedly raped. It was established that she lied. She confessed that she was worried that she might be pregnant and didn’t know what to tell her mother.”

In another case, a 42-year-old woman reported that she was raped at Potgieter Street in town on August 5, after receiving her children’s grant money at around 17:00.

“Again, police investigations revealed that her statement was false after some aspects did not make sense. She also could not identify the crime scene.”

According to Moela the woman later confessed that she was not raped, but was pickpocketed by an unknown man when she went drinking at a local tavern next to the taxi rank in town. She lied because she did not know what to tell her husband.

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“Rape is serious. On its own it has the potential of sending the alleged suspect to jail for the rest of their lives. It is one of the priority crimes in the country and requires the police to leave behind other serious cases to focus on it,” Moela said.

He said when reporting false rape cases people are depriving other genuine victims of assistance.

“There are also a lot of state resources that are utilised in the investigations of rape that include the services of hospitals and sexual crime kits, which are very expensive.

“The issue of giving false statements under oath amounts to perjury which is punishable by the law. We appeal to communities to refrain from wasting police officials’ time and resources with lies,” Moela concluded.