MAKHADO – The local Magistrate's court denied bail to a police officer who was arrested for allegedly raping his own daughter.

The man, who is attached to Levubu Police Station, was arrested by the Child Protection Unit of Sibasa for allegedly raping his 16-year-old daughter. Capt Ailwei Mushavhanamadi of the SAPS said the policeman was arrested after his daughter wrote a letter to her friend in which she stated her problem. Capt Mzamani Hobyane, Head of the Child Protection Unit, said the friend who had received the letter presented it to a minister of religion. He, in turn, then presented it to a social worker in Makhado.

"The minister then invited the mother of the little girl to Makhado, to visit a social worker. He did not tell the mother about her child's ordeal, until they reached Makhado, where the social worker gave her the letters. The mother then followed her child to school. From there she took her to relatives and tried to explain what was really happening. The girl revealed nothing, but cried until the following morning at about 03:00. She woke her mother and explained that she had been sexually abused by her father for the past three years," Mushavahamadi said. "She also explained that her father showed her pornographic videos that were later confiscated by the police in the police barracks at Levubu," said Hobyane. The policeman was arrested last Thursday and an application for bail was denied on Friday.