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Watchdog waits to investigate police 'assault'

OUT COLD: Sunnyside police allegedly beat a Pretoria prostitute unconscious when she resisted arrest. The woman has gone to the SAPS and laid a charge. Pic. Herbert Matimba. © Pretoria News.
OUT COLD: Sunnyside police allegedly beat a Pretoria prostitute unconscious when she resisted arrest. The woman has gone to the SAPS and laid a charge. Pic. Herbert Matimba. © Pretoria News.

Vusi Ndlovu

Vusi Ndlovu

No investigation against any particular police officer regarding the brutal assault on a prostitute last week has been instituted yet.

Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) spokesman Dikeledi Phiri said yesterday that their investigation was now focused on the actual incident of the alleged attack on the prostitute by a policeman based in Sunnyside, Pretoria, on Monday night.

"The woman has made a statement to the SAPS. We expect to receive a copy of the statement tomorrow [today] and take it to her for confirmation.

"It is then that we will launch an investigation against a particular person," she said.

Phiri said that after studying the docket the ICD would send it to the director of public prosecutions for a decision.

Though the complainant had not registered a complaint with the ICD to enable the watchdog body to investigate reported police misconduct, they had already started to investigate the matter after a direct order from Gauteng safety and community liaison MEC Firoz Cachalia.

Phiri said the ICD had since spoken to four witnesses.

A prostitute's advocacy group, Sex Work Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat), said yesterday it was willing to help the complainant should she wish to accept the organisation's help.

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