The UDM welcomes yesterday’s ruling by the Constitutional Court in the case of the woman who was raped by three policemen in 1999.

The brutal gang rape by three on-duty policeman resulted in life imprisonment for all of them. However, the rape survivor’s quest to claim damages from the Government for the conduct of these three policemen were refused by two courts before the matter came before the Constitutional Court.

It is important to note that the rapists were on-duty, wearing police uniforms and driving a police vehicle when they committed their despicable deeds. We salute the Constitutional Court for confirming that it is the duty of Government, through the police service, to protect women from crimes such as rape. These criminals abused their position of trust to lure this woman into their vehicle and then proceeded to abase everything that the police service stands for.

There are many dedicated police men and women in our country, who are fighting a relentless battle against crime. Often they do this in spite of insufficient resources and under immense strain. They follow this calling for a small salary and put their lives on the line every day. They know that there are many criminals out there who are prepared to kill them instead of face justice. Despite these overwhelming odds the majority of our police service diligently execute their duties. In such circumstances it must be highly demoralising for them to discover that in their midst there are people such as these criminals who would abuse their uniforms to commit the very crimes that their colleagues are dedicating their lives to fighting. This judgement sends a strong message to all of those who want to abuse their positions to commit rape.