Durban - A Clermont family is afraid to go to bed at night because the man who raped their daughter knows where she lives, especially after she escaped from him.
The 22-year-old was raped and tied to a tree after her ordeal but managed to escape on Tuesday after she trusted a young man who promised her a job.
The woman’s mother told the Daily News on Thursday that her daughter had been job hunting and met a young man who claimed his boss was in need of a domestic worker.
Desperate for employment, she trusted him. They met near her home in Clermont to meet the man’s boss, said to be in Pinetown.
“He said they would take shortcuts and they walked through bushes,” she said.
He apparently told her that God remembered her and admitted he was a criminal.
“She said she had nowhere to go and he told her to get undressed. She did everything he asked and then he raped her. When he was done he wiped himself with her bra and called three other accomplices to rape her too, but they refused because she had been cursing them the whole time,” said the mother.
She said the men tied her daughter to a tree.
“Her eyes, mouth and feet were bound and she told me she doesn’t know how she got free but she was praying hard at the time.”
She grabbed her clothes, ID book, bag and ran away, not knowing where she was running to. Her mother said she had stumbled on two naked bodies, one of which she had seen earlier.
She managed to get to the road, where a motorist had stopped and asked her what had happened.
“He then drove her to Pinetown, allowed her to call her mother and gave her R50 to get home.”
She said her daughter managed to meet her at her workplace in New Germany and together they went to Kwa-Dabeka police station but were referred to Pinetown and then Sydenham police stations.
“We were still at the police station at 6 pm. Later, we went to Addington Hospital and only got home around midnight. The police went to investigate in the bushes where she was raped but only found her lunch box. They did not find the two bodies. My daughter said one of the bodies had the breasts cut off,” she said.
She said her daughter’s spirit was broken and she was very worried about her.
“Yesterday, she was better when we were at the hospital but when we got home, she got scared and asked if she could sleep in my room.”
“I’d like to caution others to be careful. Just because you are after a job, check first to see if it is legit,” she said.
Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said Sydenham police were investigating a case of rape.
“It is alleged by the complainant that on Tuesday, January 8 at 7 am, she was allegedly raped by an unknown man who promised her employment,” Gwala said.
Reaction Unit South Africa director Prem Balram said last year they were called out to several incidents where women allegedly had been raped after being promised jobs.
Balram said there were between two to four incidents but there were many more similar attacks in 2017.
“People are promised jobs, then they meet up with the person who promised the job and are robbed and raped,” Balram said.
He said it happened often but some victims did not report it to the police because they were embarrassed.
“People need to verify things before going to an interview,” he said.
“They also need to confirm with the receptionist about a job advert. They should not go to shady places and hotel rooms. Instead, they must get someone to go with them who will wait for them in the waiting room.”