By Johnathan Paoli
Suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya has claimed that the 18-year-old woman he is accused of raping consented to sex, and later messaged him about meeting again.
Sibiya, who spent the past week behind bars, also denied sexually grooming a 16-year-old girl, claiming her father told him she had a crush on him and sent him a video of the teenager masturbating.
His version of events was read into the record by his advocate Estelle Kilian during his formal bail application at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
“When we arrived in the hotel room, Mr M and the other ladies left the hotel room and MC and myself were left in the hotel room. We proceeded to have consensual intercourse. After this meeting, I continued to have regular contact with MC by means of text messages where MC expressed the desire to see and meet me again. However, this did not happen,” his affidavit read.
The state alleges that Sibiya plied the 18-year-old and her friends with alcohol at The Grand strip club and later at the Garden Court Hotel before raping the woman while she was unconscious.
Sibiya faces three sexual-grooming charges, a human-trafficking charge and a rape charge.
His affidavit also sets out his account of the allegations involving the 16-year-old, identified in court as ZM.
Sibiya said her father, referred to as Mr M, had asked him to collect ZM from Centurion before a braai in Kempton Park.
About a week later, Sibiya said, Mr M visited his home and told him he had received a video of his daughter masturbating from an undisclosed source.
Sibiya said Mr M forwarded the video to him and told him ZM had a crush on him.
The claim prompted a pointed exchange with the magistrate, who questioned why Mr M had forwarded the video to Sibiya rather than simply showing it to him.
Kilian said Mr M would have to explain his actions before taking instructions from Sibiya.
“My client says he cannot explain why Mr M sent it to him. Mr M told me in the same breath that ZM had a crush on me and proceeded to phone her in my presence. Mr M then confronted ZM telephonically with this fact and she confirmed that she indeed had a crush on me,” she said.
Sibiya said he was uncomfortable with the video’s distribution and subsequently contacted ZM, asking why her father had circulated compromising material involving her.
According to his affidavit, ZM asked him to forward the video to her so she could establish what had happened.
Sibiya said she confirmed that she was the person in the video but did not know how her father had obtained it.
He claimed she then sent him similar videos and asked him to investigate them.
The state alleges that Sibiya himself engaged in the sexual grooming of the teenager, including sending her explicit photographs, persuading her to send sexual videos and possessing and distributing sexual images of her.
Sibiya also mounted a challenge to the circumstances of his arrest, describing it as a “well orchestrated diabolical plan” and questioning the involvement of the Madlanga Commission Recommendations Task Team (CRTT).
He said the sexual-offences case did not arise from the Madlanga Commission and questioned why the task team had become involved.
He denied posing a flight or witness-interference risk, undertaking not to contact state witnesses and offering to surrender his passport.
Sibiya’s disciplinary hearing is due to begin on 2 November, and he told the court his continued incarceration would prejudice his ability to prepare for the hearing and participate in it.
The defence also brought up a witness, attorney Rashaad Moosa, who testified that Sibiya had proactively approached the authorities through letters to the National Director of Public Prosecutions and other law-enforcement bodies, offering to cooperate with any criminal investigation against him.
Moosa said Sibiya’s instructions had been “clear and unequivocal” and that the purpose of the correspondence was to demonstrate that he was willing to cooperate.
“The impression was actually quite clear, and that was indeed the opposite. General Sibiya intended to deal with matters proactively, preemptively, and obviously with the view to clear his name,” he said.
Moosa said the first letter was sent to the NDPP on 17 August 2026, about a month before Sibiya’s arrest.
He said neither the NDPP nor other authorities subsequently asked Sibiya to hand himself over, provide documents or cooperate with investigators.
Moosa was also present when police searched Sibiya’s home on 21 September, after Sibiya had already been arrested at the Grand Club.
He told the court the house was heavily guarded, with armed SAPS members wearing protective equipment and between 10 and 15 vehicles at the scene.
The search warrant specified seven cellular devices that were to be seized.
The State objected to proceeding with the witness, saying the defence had handed up new documents, including documents it understood to be ‘classified’, shortly before calling Moosa.
The prosecutor said the documents were lengthy and required consultation with the National Director of Public Prosecutions before the State could properly cross-examine Moosa.
The State also said it needed time to respond to issues raised in Sibiya’s bail affidavit.
The court granted the State’s request for additional preparation time, postponing the matter to Thursday, with Sibiya remaining in custody.
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