Former president Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel met a 17-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and shot near Pretoria earlier this month, Mandela’s office said on Tuesday.
They both expressed their disgust over the incident with Mandela saying that ”no person damaging a young life like this should remain unpunished”.
Mandela, who met the teenager at an undisclosed venue in Johannesburg, expressed his confidence in the judiciary system and said the suspects in the case would be punished as the court saw fit.
Four men have been arrested in connection with the incident.
The girl was raped after the hijacking of Janine Drennen, her one-year-old baby daughter Kayla, and her fiance’s mother Hester Rawstone (52) in Sunnyside, Pretoria.
Rawstone was shot in the neck and her body dumped at the corner of Soutpansberg and Hebron roads in the suburb of Riviera.
The group then drove to Stinkwater near Hammanskraal, where the girl was kidnapped. The assailants raped Drennen and the girl before shooting both, along with Kayla.
The teenager survived and was admitted to the Jubilee Hospital, but Drennen and the baby died. The teenager was released after recovering from the gunshot wounds to her face.
The office said Mandela had urged the girl to turn tragedy into triumph and offered to find her a sponsor for her education.
Mandela and Machel also sent their condolences to the Drennen and Rawstone families. – Sapa