Cop’s sex case dropped
|Published
‘STRESSFUL’: Cape Flats cop, Sgt. Winston van Schalkwyk outside court. ‘STRESSFUL’: Cape Flats cop, Sgt. Winston van Schalkwyk outside court.
“I never touched those women.”
These are the words of a Cape Flats cop, who smiled from ear to ear, as he left Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after hearing one of the complainants dropped the charges.
Sergeant Winston van Schalkwyk, 36, is accused of sexually assaulting a 48-year-old Pelican Park woman and her domestic worker last month.
According to a senior police source, the domestic worker told cops her employers had told her to make up the story to “make their case stronger”.
The homeowner previously told the Daily Voice that the cop visited her at home and allegedly forced her to give him a hand job after she sent her son and domestic worker to the shop.
The 23-year-old domestic worker later came forward and claimed the cop touched her bum and he was charged with common assault.
On Thursday, Van Schalkwyk appeared before Magistrate Goolam Bawa, who said the matter would not be heard at the Regional Court but would instead be dealt with by the two lower courts.
MATTER: One of the charges were dropped at Wynberg court.
In Court 1, he was told that the domestic worker had withdrawn her initial statement and would not be going ahead with the charges, but the sexual assault case would stand.
Both matters were postponed to 14 January for a final decision.
According to the source, the domestic worker contacted the investigating officer after resigning from her job and returning to Calitzdorp, confessing that the woman’s husband had forced her to lay additional charges to “make their case stronger”.
The Pelican Park couple on Thursday denied this, saying she had come to them with the claims.
The Daily Voice tried to reach the domestic worker, but her mother answered her phone and confirmed she had resigned and dropped the charge.
“She told me she had withdrawn the case, but she didn’t say why,” the mother said.
Meanwhile, Van Schalkwyk denies laying hands on the women.
“I never touched those women and this case has been very stressful for me and my family,” he says.
“I don’t even know the domestic worker.
“I am waiting for my chance to take the stand and tell my side of this story.”