A police officer has been arrested after a man held in connection with the rape of an 84-year-old woman managed to escape from custody in Port Elizabeth, The Herald reported on Friday.

Constable Mzwakile Gusha, who is based at the Walmer police station, was arrested on Thursday and appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate's Court on the same day facing charges of aiding an escape.

He will appear in court again on Monday.

Gusha was together with three colleagues when he accompanied Frankie Louwskieter (27) to a house in Walmer township, where the suspect was supposed to allegedly point out a DVD player, cellphone, watch and a wallet stolen from an elderly woman.

Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the three officers went inside the house while Gusha remained behind.

When the three came back outside they found that Louwskieter had escaped.

The elderly woman, who was a resident at Winston Churchill Moth Cottages in Walmer, was attacked last Friday after her assailant gained access into her home through a window.

The attacker first bound and then gagged the woman before stabbing her in the leg.

He then raped her before locking her in her bedroom and returning a short while later to steal a watch she was wearing on her wrist.

Sapa

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