‘Rape survivor’ sues

Almost eight years after an alleged brutal attack that lasted 16 hours, Gauteng businessperson Andy Kawa was back in Port Elizabeth – this time seeking justice by suing the SA Police Service for damages just short of R6 million.

On December 9, 2010, Kawa was allegedly abducted while walking along Kings Beach, held hostage and gang raped for 15 to 16 hours in sand dunes. She managed to escape the next day.

In 2012, Kawa pointed out her alleged assailants during a protest march along the same beachfront, but the charges against the two men were withdrawn when DNA evidence failed to link them to the attack.

Kawa was in the Port Elizabeth High Court for her civil claim against the police. The defendants in the case include the minister of police, Brigadier Ronald Koll and two investigating officers who were assigned to her case, Matabata Madubedube and Adine Solomon.

According to court papers, Kawa claimed Saps wrongfully and negligently breached its duty to investigate her allegation that she had been abducted, held hostage and gang raped by a group of men.

The papers state that police also failed to search the area in the vicinity of the car park at King Beach where her car had been broken into at the time.

Papers further cite that police were delayed in responding to the call by joggers who assisted Kawa after the attack, who reported at the time that she had been found on the beach after she had been raped.

Police are also accused of failing to search the area of the sand dunes after Kawa had reported the allegations at the police station.

According to the court papers, one of the investigating officers in the case claimed that he was unable to investigate properly because of a lack of transport and insufficient airtime on his cellphone. The other detective in the case failed to compile an identikit of the rapists. – ANA