General News of Wednesday, 8 May 2002

Source: .

Girl in Beckley's case in custody of Police

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Police on Tuesday said the young girl in Dr Ram Beckley case was not missing but with the Police.

The girl was given to a female Senior Police Officer to enable her to overcome her fright and trauma, according to a GNA story. A Senior Police source said; "The police are protecting the victim's rights and health, which is paramount in such cases all over the world, to avert any psychological trauma that may affect her for the rest of her life."

The Source said the girl would be allowed to be interviewed after a clinical psychologist had given the go ahead. However, it noted that there was a chain of inconsistencies in the girl's story. The Prosecutor in the case in which Dr Ram Beckley, a private medical practitioner and an occultist, is charged with assault and kidnapping on Monday told the Adjabeng Community Tribunal that the Police could not trace the class three pupil, whom he allegedly kidnapped.

He said schools were on vacation and they could not find her. The Prosecution could not also tell the tribunal about the whereabouts of the victim's stepfather. Beckley, who has been charged with assaulting and kidnapping a class three pupil, has pleaded not guilty.