/ 30 August 2000

MEN ARRESTED FOR PAINTING GIRL WHITE

TWO men have been arrested in Louis Trichardt afternoon for allegedly painting a 14-year-old girl white, Northern Province police said. The men, a manager from the town’s Pep Store and one of his workers, accused the girl, from a nearby village, of stealing, Senior Superintendent Phutti Setati said in a statement. “The girl was in the store when she was confronted by the manager and two workers. Her blouse was taken off and her stomach, chest, back, neck, arms and head were painted white,” he said. The girl was then ordered to leave the store. She immediately alerted the police. The men will appear in the Louis Trichardt magistrate’s court soon on charges of assault, theft and Crimen Injuria. It is not clear whether the attack was racially motivated.