A nine-month-old baby girl is being treated in hospital after she was raped in a house in Kalkfontein near Kuils River in the Western Cape on Sunday, police said on Monday.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Riaan Pool said the child was found by the owner of the house when she returned home around 11.30am. The child was crawling around the kitchen and crying uncontrollably. Her clothes were bloodstained.
Pool said a 35-year-old man of Sarepta in Kuils River had been arrested by members of the child protection unit about three hours after the rape.
Police reports indicated that the 34-year-old mother of the baby, who rented a room in the Kalkfontein house where the rape took place, went to lie down with her baby next to her shortly before 11am.
Besides the mother and the child, the only other people in the house at the time were the owner of the property and a friend. Pool said the owner left the house to make purchases at a nearby shop. The friend remained in the house. When the owner returned she found the child had been sexually assaulted. She awakened the mother and they alerted the police.
Pool said the suspect would remain in custody until he appears in the Kuils River court. – Sapa