Nursing assistant Sibusiso Dywili, accused of raping a 28-year-old patient, is expected to apply for bail at his second court appearance on Wednesday.
It is alleged that the 33-year-old nurse raped the woman inside the toilet of a ward at Tylor Bequest Hospital in Matatiele, Eastern Cape in September. Dywili allegedly called the patient to the bathroom on the pretext of wanting to help her. He instead allegedly locked the door and raped her.
Dywili was later suspended from his duties.
Eastern Cape department of health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth has expressed her disappointment after the alleged rape incident.
Meth said health facilities must be safe spaces for women and all patients. She said her department takes gender-based-violence cases seriously and they will conduct their own investigations on the matter.
“We are shocked by this alleged incident. Although this is now a criminal matter, the department has launched its own internal investigation because we take gender-based-violence seriously.
“We condemn this in the strongest terms possible. We will not pre-empt the outcome of both the internal investigation and the criminal case, the law will take its course. The alleged victim and an alleged witness were offered counselling,” said Meth.
The victim has reportedly been taken to the Thuthuzela Care Centre where a specimen was taken for forensic investigation.
This incident follows the tragic rape incident that took place in December 2022, in which a male doctor in Mount Ayliff, a small town in Eastern Cape, was accused of raping a 34-year-old female patient inside his consulting room.
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