Upset over cops’ handling of Makhaza rape case

The family of a 19-year-old woman who was allegedly gang raped and assaulted by her ex-boyfriend and his friends are upset about how Makhaza police officers have handled the case (“Rape survivor shares traumatic experience”, Vukani, September 15).

And the father of the victim has accused police of not having interviewed his daughter, or the family.

Group commander at Khayelitsha police station at the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit, Captain Trevor Nash, however, denied that the investigating officer did not meet with the victim.

He claimed that when the detective interviewed the victim, she had allegedly been too intoxicated to remember anything and could not provide tangible evidence.

Captain Nash said the medical report they got did not indicate any serious injuries or forced penetration - and only learnt two days later that her jaws had been broken. He said that at the present moment they do not have any evidence to link the young men to the incident.

He said there were no witnesses who could corroborate what had happened and now they wanted to conduct a DNA tests to determine if any of the young men could be linked to the case. In the meantime, he said, they had been released.

Last Friday, when the two suspects appeared in Khayelitsha court, family, friends and community activists gathered outside, armed with placards and demanding justice.

According to survivor’s father, whose name is being withheld to protect his daughter’s identity, he was alerted by a young man in the area that his daughter was being raped and beaten in an shack not far from her home.

When they arrived at the scene, his daughter had been put outside the shack and she was bleeding profusely.

Her body was covered in blood, the T-shirt she was wearing had been stripped and her pants were on the wrong way round, giving her father the impression she had been undressed. She wasn’t wearing underwear nor shoes.

Her daughter informed them who had raped and attacked her and some community members had been able to identify the suspects.

The young woman is currently being treated at Groote Schuur hospital.

The two suspects were arrested soon after the incident, charged with common assault.

The father alleged that the detective had not visited the family and accused the police of negligence.

“Her jaw had been broken and some of her fingers had been broken. I want these culprits to be arrested because should they be released they could easily kill my daughter so that they do not have to find themselves appearing in court.

“I want these boys to be arrested and because its clear that they could do this to other young girls,” he said.

Community activist, Thembeka Mdunyelwa Mxokozeli, who runs an organisation called Emthonjeni, said they had been informed that a third suspect believed to have been involved, and that they were calling for the case to be transferred to another investigating officer.