The family of a 30-year-old woman with a learning disability who was brutally assaulted, raped and left for dead in a ditch in Finetown, Gauteng, allegedly by her neighbour, wants the perpetrator to be jailed.
The victim’s 28-year-old sister, who cannot be named to protect the victim's identity, said she had left her sister at home with their siblings when the incident happened on July 24.
The victim was at home with her 21-year-old brother and a sister aged 10 when the incident happened. Their mother died in 2015.
“On the Friday before the incident, I left home and went to Mpumalanga to meet up with my soccer colleagues. Before I left, my sister was fine and in a good mood. Our neighbour saw me leaving and asked me where I am going and I told him I am going to Mpumalanga,” she said.
“I came back home on the Sunday around 6pm and that’s when my sister told me our neighbour beat her up and raped her. She told me he came into our yard around 6.30pm on the Saturday and asked her to take a walk with him around the area. As they were walking, he stopped in a secluded area and tried to force himself on her but she fought back and he started beating her up.
“He then started raping her and left her there in the ditch afterwards. Luckily she was able to get up and run back home to seek help from neighbours living in our area. On the Sunday I returned, we went to confront the guy’s family and his family denied he raped my sister,” she said.
The sister said they took the victim to the Lenasia South Hospital for a medical examination.
The victim suffered bruises on her face and had swollen eyes. Her left leg had several scratches and scars. One of the shoes she wore on the day of the incident was torn.
“The doctors even gave her pain killers to reduce the pain she was experiencing,” said the sister.
The sister said she is disheartened that a neighbour they trusted as a family could commit such a horrible act.
“I am in pain. This is so painful. The neighbour is someone we know very well. He used to visit us a lot. I didn’t expect him to take advantage of her like this... because she is a slow learner and I was not at home. He planned the whole thing. I just want justice and closure for my sister,” she said.
The victim’s aunt condemned what happened to her niece.
“What happened to my niece is bad. What the perpetrator did is not right. Gender-based violence is a serious crime. We trust that the police will bring justice and closure for us as a family,” said the aunt.
Gauteng police spokesperson Cpt Kay Makhubela confirmed a case of rape was opened and that the suspect was arrested last week.
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