The case against five men — aged between 18 and 20 — accused of gang-raping a 21-year-old Durban woman was postponed in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on Thursday.
The men allegedly raped the woman in a sugar-cane plantation in Hillcrest on March 2 while they took turns at holding her father at gunpoint nearby.
The father and his daughter had been fishing at a dam when they were accosted by the armed gang.
Police said they initially suspected that seven men were in the gang but later established that there were only five men.
Four of the accused appeared in court on Thursday but the fifth was not present.
Magistrate Corel Language said the matter would be remanded to May 6 for further investigation.
Two of the accused would be kept in custody at Westville Prison while another would be kept at the Consentia police holding cells.
A fourth accused would be held at KwaNdengezi police holding cells.
Two of the accused had abandoned their bail application while the remaining two would apply for bail at the next court appearance.
The court was packed with family members of the accused and family and friends of the survivor.
The rape survivor, however, was not present.
Dozens of people were not allowed in court as it was packed to capacity.
As the accused were led out of court, protesters stood up and waved, saying they would be put away for a long time.
Earlier a crowd of protesters joined hands and sang Christian praise songs along a roadside outside the court as they waited for the accused to arrive.
Among the protesters was former Miss South Africa Megan Coleman.
After the court case, protesters again joined hands in prayer.
Coleman said she was shocked at how young the accused were.
”They were so small … I thought they were about ten-years-old,” she said.
Coleman said she was having difficulty in understanding how such young men could allegedly commit such a crime.
”So many children are seeing sex as a commodity that can be obtained easily, but it’s something precious that should be saved for marriage. I don’t understand why children are even practising it at such a young age,” she said.
Coleman stressed that something needed to be done by the government to change the mindset of children with regards to sexual behaviour. — Sapa