MOGOENG J
request. It was then that she saw a pile of police dockets bearing the name and rank of
Mr van Wyk. When she asked him why there were police dockets in his vehicle, he
replied that he was a private detective. Ms F understood this to mean that he was a
policeman.
[11] Contrary to his undertaking to drive Ms F home, Mr van Wyk drove towards
Kaaimansrivier, away from her home. He told Ms F that he wanted to see his friends
first. This detour caused Ms F to become suspicious of Mr van Wyk‘s true motives.
When they approached Kaaimansrivier, Mr van Wyk stopped the vehicle at a dark
spot. As a result of her suspicions, Ms F alighted from the vehicle, ran away and hid
herself from him. After a wait, Mr van Wyk left.
[12] Ms F later emerged from hiding, stood next to the road and hitchhiked. A
vehicle stopped next to her. It turned out to be the same vehicle she had just alighted
from. Mr van Wyk again offered to take her home. Ms F relented, albeit reluctantly,
owing to her desperate situation.
[13] In her evidence, she said that the fact that she believed Mr van Wyk to be a
policeman played a role in allaying her fears, because she ―trusted‖ him (hom vertrou)
as, at that stage, she thought he was a detective. She chose to repose her trust in a
person of whom she was suspicious because she understood him to be a policeman.
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