The family of a young woman raped at gunpoint by two men are seeking answers from the police after the victim bumped into her alleged rapists who are still free.
The 19-year-old was allegedly raped by two men in a field in Kgobokwane, Limpopo, on September 13 last year.
The traumatised victim said she was forced to move and stay with her sister because she had encountered the pair roaming around freely following the rape. The family opened a case at Dennilton Police Station. However, they claimed that very little progress has been made.
She told The Star that on the day of the rape, she was walking to the store to buy food with her friend around 9pm. She was a Grade 12 learner at the time.
“We were walking when two men approached us, one pointing a gun at me and the other pointing his knife in the direction of my friend. They said if we screamed they would shoot me and stab my friend,” she said.
The girl said the perpetrators led them to a hidden area of a field nearby where they proceeded to rob the two girls and forced them to remove their clothing.
“They told us not to say anything and that they had been watching us the whole day and then they placed me on top of my friend and both men proceeded to rape me,” she said.
The teenager said afterwards the two men fled. The two girls rushed to her friend’s house to get assistance and call the police.
Limpopo provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said the police arrested a 25-year-old suspect on September 16. He appeared in court on the same day.
“On Wednesday, September 25, he appeared in Mdutjana Magistrate’s Court. The case was not placed on the roll and the suspect was released due to lack of evidence,” he said.
Mojapelo added that forensic investigations were done on March 17 and the results were still pending.
The victim said that she saw both the alleged perpetrators in her area and that one of them allegedly called her.
“He said things that scared me a lot and I ended up leaving where I stayed to live with my sister somewhere else.”
The victim’s cousin said that after the family heard that one of the perpetrators was released, they wanted to let the police do their jobs. However, by December the family had not heard anything about the case.
“In February my aunt was called and told that the investigating officer for the case changed but she couldn’t even respond. She just cried because her child had failed matric because of this,” he said. Until today the family hadn’t heard from the new investigating officer.
Mojapelo said the police would internally investigate the complaint that the investigating officer was not keeping the victim up to date about progress in the case.
The mother of the victim said it hurt her every day knowing that this traumatic event had interrupted her daughter’s schooling. “Right now my own child isn’t living with me and she only comes back sometimes because she is scared,” she said.
The victim said she wanted justice. “I want them to be arrested and stop walking around freely because they are going to do the same thing to another girl,” she said.
@Chulu_M