A distraught mother from Boksburg in Ekurhuleni has spoken out about her shock after neighbours caught her boyfriend with his pants down, sexually assaulting her blind daughter.
The 40-year-old woman said she cannot forgive herself for what has happened to her daughter. The woman cannot be named to protect the identity of her 12-year-old daughter.
"I never thought this man would ever do such a brutal thing to my daughter. We have known him for three years with my children and although he did not stay with us, he visited from time to time and knew my children very well," she said.
The mother of four said she had just returned from her “piece jobs” on Sunday afternoon when she arrived home to a screaming mob.
"I had passed by my eldest daughter’s place to fetch meat because I don’t have a refrigerator. To my surprise, my neighbours were shouting and chasing my boyfriend and I was told he was caught trying to rape my child."
She then ran into the house and found her daughter in the couch with her pants unzipped and her shirt taken off. "My heart broke. I was fuming with anger. I wanted to kill someone but I held my baby and apologised instead."
She said she gently dressed her daughter and gave her a big hug. "My cousin who had passed by to visit us was around to witness the incident. She joined me and the community members to go and search for the man as we were waiting for the police," said the mother.
The mother said she accompanied the mob to his home where the man had locked himself inside the house and was refusing to open.
"The police finally arrived. He was drunk and said he was sorry to me, but I did not want to hear anything. The police took him away."
A neighbour who witnessed the incident said she was disgusted and could not erase the thought of seeing the man putting his filthy hands all over the child. "When I walked towards the house I could hear the child asking the man, ‘what are you doing?’. The man ignored the girl and grabbed her breasts, he was brushing them and reaching for her private parts,” she recalled.
"His pants were also unzipped and he was aroused. I screamed and he jumped, stood up and ran away. I began to scream for help and the neighbours came out. If I had arrived later, the worst could have happened. He would have raped her.”
The child’s elder sister said the family rely on her and neighbours to look after the girl. "My mother works as a domestic worker for some days in a week. I live not far from them. I either look after her at my mother's place or I take her with me," said the sister.
Police spokesperson Const Justice Ramaube said the police have opened a case of sexual assault and further investigations are underway. "The suspect was arrested on the same day and detained. He appeared in the Boksburg magistrate's court yesterday and was remanded back in custody.”
The department of education said it would assist the family and get the child a school for children with similar disabilities.
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