/ 26 April 2001

Fury at rape suspect’s escape

Thuli Nhlapo

Angry residents of Msawawa informal settlement near Kya Sands this week expressed their disappointment in the justice system and vowed to take the law into their own hands.

This follows a shocking incident two weeks ago where Douglasdale police allegedly set a suspected rapist free, claiming he jumped through a window.

“The women wanted to kill this man but we managed to convince them to call the Douglasdale police who arrived at about five in the morning. We were shocked when two policemen returned two hours later to tell us that the suspect escaped,” said Frans Bopape, a policeman who lived in the area.

Police told residents that the suspected rapist asked to go to the toilet and escaped through the window.

“That is what happens in the movies but not in real life. How could a handcuffed man jump through a window that is high up on the wall without anyone assisting him? Why did the police not escort him? It is clear the man never made it to the police station but paid them money on the way,” said Joseph Matome, a community member.

According to police representative, Superintendent Chris Wilken, the investigation into the rape charge has been completed but the suspect has yet to be traced. He said police were doing all in their power to find the suspect.

Wilkens said there was no place for corrupt policemen in Gauteng. Area commissioner Perumal Naidoo has been ordered to investigate the community’s allegations that Douglasdale police allowed the suspect to escape. According to Wilkens, Naidoo’s report will be released within two weeks.

The parents of six children who were raped and sodomised remain adamant that not much work has been put into resolving the matter.

A mother whose six- and eight-year-old girls were raped and 11-year-old son sodomised said she thought “someone professional” was going to be sent to talk to the children because they suffer from nightmares. But the last she heard from the Douglasdale police station was the day residents marched to the police station to protest about how the case was being handled.

Residents of Phomollong informal settlement near Kya Sand also claim they reported a man who had raped his stepmother, but the Douglasdale police ordered him to pay R300 before he was set free.

Both communities claim they battle to get the police to respond to their calls for help. They say the police take hours to arrive, and often they do not come at all. Mothers of the children who were raped said when they arrived at the station a day after their children were raped, they were taken to the Sunninghill hospital but no one has told them what happened.

“We do not know whether they have HIV/Aids or not. We are convinced it was not the first time they were raped. It seemed this man or someone else has been abusing them for some time,” said one mother.

She is constantly patrolling the area to ensure the man does not return and that her children are safe. “You never know. This man might come back to kill my children without anyone noticing,” she said.

Her six-year-old said the man promised he was going to cut her throat if she dared tell anyone what happened. The man gave the children R10 that they were supposed to share.