The Pretoria magistrate's court has granted R8,000 bail to a 59-year-old police captain from the Pretoria Police Training Academy, who is accused of raping a 20-year-old woman trainee and sexually assaulting another.

The officer allegedly raped the trainee on May 6 and sexually assaulted another trainee in March.

The incidents allegedly took place in his office at the training college. 

Police spokesperson Lizzy Suping said on May 6 the 20-year-old trainee was allegedly walking with her colleagues to their sleeping quarters when the captain called her to his office.

“In the office, the captain allegedly locked the door and told the trainee if she did not sleep with him he would serve her with a misconduct letter regarding an incident that allegedly happened in April, where the captain accused the trainee of failing to salute him.”

Suping noted that on trends of cases of rape by police officers from the previous financial year, Gauteng is leading with just under 30 cases reported.

“Though other provinces experienced a decline in these cases, Gauteng’s cases increased by about 35%. Reported cases of rape by police officers while on duty is also higher compared with rape when officers are off-duty,” she said.