Africa-Press – South-Africa. The guardian of a 13-year-old Gauteng rape victim is outraged, saying police claimed the teen girl’s hymen could have been damaged while she was riding a bicycle or horse.
“We don’t have horses. Why would they even say that? I am so upset,” the woman said.
Earlier this month, a video clip surfaced on social media of the girl relaying that three men had raped her in Laezonia, near Diepsloot, Gauteng.
Safety at stake
In the video, she said the first incident involved an old man from her neighbourhood, who allegedly dragged her to his house while she was playing with a friend in the street.
“He told me to sit down on a chair… He closed the door, covered my eyes with a dishcloth and carried me over to the bed where he tied my hands [behind] my back.
She said:
When she begged him to stop, he did and he told her to leave his house, before he handed her a R10 note and told her not to tell anyone what had happened, she said.
She went on to give details of a different experience involving another man who sent her to a nearby tuckshop and dragged her to his home where she was raped.
“Once he was done, he told me that if I ever told anyone about this he would kill me,” she said.
The third rape, she said, involved a man who owns a taxi.
UCT vice-chancellor apologises, retracts tweet questioning student’s ‘agenda’ over rape claim
According to the child’s guardian, the matter was reported to the police but no arrests have been made.
“When this matter was reported earlier in the month, nothing was done. It took forever for it to be investigated. By then, the video was already on social media and perpetrators [who were] named started to question the girl to see if she outed them to the police,” the guardian said.
She added that the safety of the child was at stake.
She said:
She said the need to move came on 30 April after members of the community told her that a man in the area had fondled the child’s breasts.
“I believe this happened on 29 April.
“I later confirmed the incident with her, and she admitted that she was assaulted.
“When I asked if there was anyone else who did this…she told me about the other ordeal with the three different men, as you would have heard from the video shared on Instagram,” she said.
Getting the police involved
She went to report the matter to the police.
However, when they got to the police station, officers refused to open a case, the guardian said.
She added:
Another police office was brought in to interview the child again and recommended that she be taken to a clinic where she could be examined.
“We went to the clinic on Sunday (1 May), where medical reports proved that she was raped and what’s sad, is that the doctors said several men raped her,” the guardian added.
She said the documents were handed to the police after their return from the clinic.
After weeks of unsuccessfully trying to get updates from the police, she returned to the police station. But officers told her that the girl’s hymen could have been damaged from riding a bicycle or horse, she said.
“I mean, you have a full confession from the child and medical records proving she was raped. Why would they take this lightly?” she asked.
According to the guardian, the child’s safety has been on the line ever since the video was released.
A rape case has since been opened and police have started to investigate the matter.
News24 contacted the police for comment but their comment was not received at the time of publication.
It will be added once received.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
