Sibiya Bail Hearing: Defence Disputes Claim He Was Arrested Inside Strip Club

Suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has disputed an investigating officer’s account that he was arrested inside a strip club in Sandton, with his defence arguing that he was dining at the establishment’s restaurant when police apprehended him.

The issue emerged during the cross-examination of investigating officer Sergeant Nokukhanya Ndlovu at the Randburg Magistrates’ Court on Friday, 2 October 2026, as Sibiya’s bail hearing continued.

Sibiya was arrested at The Grand Club in Rivonia, Sandton, on 21 September. He faces three counts of sexual grooming, one count of human trafficking and one count of rape, as well as an additional charge relating to the alleged possession of a firearm found in his vehicle.

His legal team, comprising Amanda Nel, Estelle Kilian and Rashaad Moosa, continued challenging Ndlovu’s evidence about the investigation and the circumstances surrounding the arrest.

Defence challenges ‘strip club’ description

Much of Friday’s exchange focused on the nature of The Grand and precisely where Sibiya was when police arrested him.

Ndlovu maintained that she carried out the arrest inside the strip club.

“I am the one who affected the arrest at the strip club with the grant, correct.”

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Nel questioned the repeated description of the establishment as a strip club.

“I love it how you repeat strip club, strip club, strip club.”

Ndlovu responded:

“It is a strip club.”

Nel then argued that The Grand also has a restaurant and hotel, with those areas separate from the strip club.

“I put it to you – it’s not only exclusively a strip club. There’s a restaurant area, there’s a hotel area, and those areas are separate from the strip club. Are you going to dispute that?”

Ndlovu replied that a search for the venue would immediately identify it as a strip club.

“Your Worship, even when you Google the place, The Grand, it shows immediately the strip club.”

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The exchange prompted Magistrate Hleziphi Mkhasibe to intervene and ask Ndlovu to specify exactly where Sibiya had been arrested.

“I think you should make it clear; where was he arrested?” the magistrate asked.

Ndlovu insisted that Sibiya was inside the strip club rather than in the restaurant or hotel section.

“He was not at the hotel side. He was not at the restaurant side. He was at the strip club.

“When you enter, and the strip club is right at the entrance, and that is where I effected the arrest.”

Nel disputed the account, putting it to Ndlovu that Sibiya had been eating with three other men in the restaurant when police arrived.

Ndlovu rejected the suggestion.

“No, that is not correct. [If there were] guys that were eating with [him], I would have mentioned them in my diary,” she said.

Sibiya faces sexual grooming allegations

The bail proceedings also continued to deal with allegations involving a 16-year-old girl who is said to be the daughter of Sibiya’s former bodyguard and driver.

According to the State’s case, the girl’s father opened a criminal complaint after discovering WhatsApp communications between his daughter and Sibiya.

Ndlovu has told the court that the alleged communications took place between 20 July and 3 August 2026, and that Sibiya is accused of possessing and distributing explicit photographs and videos involving the minor.

The investigating officer said the girl’s father had initially given Sibiya his daughter’s contact details because he believed the police official would assist with arranging transport for her.

The State alleges that Sibiya subsequently communicated privately with the teenager without her father’s knowledge.

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Sibiya has disputed the State’s account of how he came into possession of the explicit material.

According to his version, the teenager’s father had invited him to a braai in Kempton Park and asked him to collect his daughter from Centurion, where Sibiya lives.

Sibiya further claims that the father later visited his home and told him he had received a video involving his daughter from an unknown person. He alleges that the father subsequently forwarded the video to him and told him that the teenager had a crush on him.

State alleges 18-year-old was raped

Sibiya is separately accused of raping an 18-year-old woman on 16 May 2026.

The State alleges that Sibiya took the complainant and two other women to The Grand Club before buying food and alcohol for the group.

The group later continued drinking at the Garden Court Hotel.

According to the State’s version, the complainant became intoxicated and lost consciousness, during which Sibiya allegedly raped her.

Sibiya has denied the allegation and maintains that the sexual encounter was consensual.

His version also places the 16-year-old’s father at the scene on the day of the alleged incident, with Sibiya claiming that the father was the first person to make contact with the 18-year-old and the two other women.

Defence questions relationship with alleged victim’s father

The defence also challenged the State’s description of the teenager’s father as Sibiya’s former bodyguard and driver.

Nel told Ndlovu that the man had never been employed by Sibiya in those capacities.

“[He] was never employed by the applicant as a bodyguard or a protector or a driver,” she said.

The defence questioned why Sibiya would have needed additional protection when he already had official police protection.

“Why would that be necessary if the applicant has official police protectors who are with him 24/7?” Nel asked.

Ndlovu explained that the official SAPS protection was available from Monday to Friday, leaving weekends uncovered.

“He [The father] was starting from Friday to Sunday,” she said.

The investigating officer further told the court that Sibiya had approached the teenager’s father directly to provide protection services.

Nel later put the defence’s version to Ndlovu, alleging that the teenager’s father was actually responsible for the alleged human trafficking and sexual exploitation involving the three girls.

“He is the one who perpetrated these actions.”

The bail proceedings are continuing, with the defence expected to further challenge the State’s evidence against Sibiya.