The two men accused of raping the warrior woman's daughter are set to appear in court on October 12.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has decided not to prosecute a mother accused of murdering and attempting to murder three men who allegedly raped her daughter in Qumbu village in the Eastern Cape.
“We have declined to prosecute which means that the charges have been withdrawn,” Luxolo Tyali, spokesperson for the NPA in the Eastern Cape, told the Mail & Guardian.
In September 2017, the mother, known as the “warrior woman” in her community, was told that her daughter was being raped by three men. It was her own mother who called her with the news.
“My mother said my daughter was being raped by three boys. I was afraid and had second thoughts, but no mother would leave her child to the wolves,” she said.
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She called the police, but when they did not answer, she took a kitchen knife and went to the house where her daughter was being raped. She stabbed the three men, and one of them died. According to the community, which the Mail & Guardian visited in September, all three men were notorious troublemakers in the village.
The deceased man’s father said, however, that his son did not deserve to die for the crimes he was accused of.
“Yes, my son was trouble but this was not what he deserved,” he said.
Women in the community have been supportive of the warrior woman calling her their “lion”. In a community meeting shortly after the incident, around 100 women shared their stories of rape and sexual violence at the hands of men in the village.
“We are here to support this woman who had the strength to do this. It has been years women have lived in fear and not a single man could do anything about it. Women in this village have been raped and murdered. There are cases where perpetrators are still walking among us. God gave this woman strength to do what many couldn’t, to protect her child and this village,” said Thobeka Mhlom, a community member.
The mother was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of murder. Tyali said that evidence at the time supported a case against her, but the NPA has now found, after sourcing statements and a police investigation, that there is no sufficient evidence to prosecute her.
“We do not want to get into the details of the evidence, but it’s not that we condone a situation where people take the law into their own hands,” Tyali said.
The two men accused of raping the warrior woman’s daughter are set to appear in court on October 12.