ALI MPHAKI
SOWETO police are worried about a new trend where rapists are targeting girls as young as 11.
Just this week, police reported seven rape cases involving girls whose ages range from 11 to 14.
In one of the incidents, the alleged rapist of an 11-year-old girl was reported to be a 67-year-old man.
Police statistics show a decline in the number of sexual crimes committed in the giant township, but concerned residents and the police are worried about this growing trend of rapists targeting young girls, and intend to nip it in the bud, according to police spokesman Warrant Officer Kay Makhubela.
He said police had raided various houses in the early hours of yesterday and had caught the rape suspects, who had been on the run for some time.
Shocked, but relieved are parents of a 13-year-old Mapetla girl who was raped in July.
The alleged rapist is a 39-year-old man who is known to the girl and her parents.
The family, which cannot be named to protect the identity of the 13-year-old, had for the past two months been worried the alleged rapist might strike again as he had not yet been arrested.
“It is a relief for the family and the 13-year-old that the man was finally arrested. We are going to oppose his bail and would urge the courts to give him a heavy sentence,” said Makhubela.
A 17-year-old police had been looking for since June was also arrested. He had allegedly raped a 14-year-old girl at her Bramfischerville home.
It is alleged the teenager had lured the young girl into a shack, where he covered her mouth, undressed and raped her. The girl reported the matter to her parents, who told the police. The young man had been on the run since then.
Two other men who had been on the run since August were also nabbed by the police yesterday morning. One of the men, aged 20, was accused of raping an 18-year-old girl, while the other, aged 21, faces charges of raping a 13-year-old girl in Chiawelo, Soweto.
In another incident, a man was arrested on Tuesday for raping a 14-year-old girl in Lenasia south.
Makhubela said the girl was walking to a shop when the 34-year-old grabbed her on Monday. “He took her to an open space and raped her, but passers-by saw the incident, grabbed him and called the police,” he said.
Four of the men were due to appear in the Protea Magistrate’s Court today.
Makhubela said the rape of young girls was not a new thing in the township, but what was encouraging was that people were reporting the cases.
He said that in most instances the perpetrators were known to the victims and that some cases involved members of the same family, or neighbours.
“We urge the community to come forward with information. It is for the police not to disappoint these communities, but to go out there and arrest the culprits,” said Makhubela.