An 18-year-old youth appeared in the Frankfort Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in connection with the rape of two French exchange students in December last year.
A court official said the matter was postponed to March 15 for a date in the regional court.
The teenager from Namahali township in Frankfort faces two rape charges and remains in custody. Two other suspects are still at large.
Police said the youth was arrested at his home three days after the two students were raped and robbed on December 5.
Police found a cellphone belonging to one of the women at the youth’s home.
The incident happened at a camping site at Frankfort.
”The two women were asleep in their vehicle at the Wilge River camping site. They were awakened when the window of the vehicle was broken,” Free State police spokesperson Christopher Mophiring said.
Three men then demanded their cellphones and money, which the woman handed over. The men tied up the tourists and two of the men raped them, said Mophiring. The men then stole the women’s vehicle.
A police patrol later spotted the vehicle near the Jim Fouche gravel road and gave
chase. The suspects abandoned the vehicle and escaped into nearby farmlands. – Sapa