No case for Delta victim

Resident of Parkhurst, Nikki Prinsloo, was the victim of an attempted rape in Delta Park.

She tells of her ordeal with more anger than trauma at what she regards as a lack of urgency and the alleged dismissal of her case by the police.

On the morning of 26 November, Prinsloo was walking her dogs along a route off of Conrad Drive she has used for over four years.

Prinsloo explained that the park was quieter than usual that morning but she thought nothing of it. She approached a bend in the trail, when the suspect jumped out from around the corner, pinning her to the ground. The man held her by the neck with one hand while trying to remove her running shorts with the other.

Prinsloo said she remembers screaming and can’t remember where her dogs were at that moment. She pushed her thumbs into the suspect’s jugular and threatened him, saying her boyfriend was coming up behind them on a bicycle and that he had a gun.

The suspect jumped off Prinsloo and ran. She took the gap to run to her car and her dogs followed. Once she was home, she phoned a friend who advised her to warn others on the I Love Parkhurst Facebook page.

Within a few hours, Prinsloo read on the Facebook page that an attempted rape had occurred again near the park. Fortunately, during the second incident, the suspect was apprehended by a CSS security officer.

Prinsloo was contacted by Karen Barras of the Blairgowrie Community Assocation’s security sub-committee and told to go to the Linden Police Station where she met the second victim, who was giving a statement. However, when Prinsloo wanted to open her own case, she was allegedly dismissed. “They told me it was not necessary for me to give a statement as they only need one case. I was asked to leave my number so that they could call me for the ID parade and then I was told I could go,” she claimed.

Spokesperson for the police station, Captain Walter Spencer, said that Prinsloo’s experience at the station was not the norm and he cannot explain why it happened. He added that Prinsloo should make an appointment with the station commander. He encouraged her to do this so that the officers responsible can be reprimanded and any misinterpretations cleared up.

He said she should and can still open a case, which can be linked to the reported incident.

Prinsloo said she is yet to hear from the Linden police and, besides an apology, she would want to see the precinct put together an ongoing, consistent action plan to protect women in the community and provide a safe environment for women and families. “Even though I was wearing shorts it does not give anyone the right [to do what he did]. It needs to be recognised that no woman deserves to be sexually assaulted,” Prinsloo said.