Gauteng women robbed and raped at Hazyview lodge

HAZYVIEW – Two Gauteng women, one of them five months pregnant, endured a horrific ordeal this weekend when they were raped and held up at Tatenda Guest Lodge. This incident follows only days after a group of children was held up and robbed in the early hours of Friday morning.
MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Mr Vusi Shongwe, had called on lodge owners to increase security measures at their establishments, yet in this latest incident, two men broke through the security gates at Tatenda before gaining access to the women’s room.
The victims, aged 23 and 32 years, were on a business trip and were due to return to Gauteng later on Sunday afternoon. The suspects entered their room at about 03:00. One of them was wearing a balaclava and demanded cash, laptops and cellphones.
Initially they sat and chatted to the women and helped themselves to food from the fridge. The pregnant woman (32) was taken to the bedroom where she begged the thug not to rape her. She told him she was five months pregnant and he asked her to lift her clothes to show him if it was indeed the case. She did as she was told, but this didn’t stop him and he held a gun to her head while raping her.
By then he had taken off his balaclava and told her, “We are well known in this town, everyone knows who we are.” The second suspect continued to talk to the younger woman in the lounge. It appeared that he didn’t want to take part in rape, but eventually, under the influence of the other robber, he went ahead.
The criminals took their time and spent an hour with their victims before leaving on foot. At one stage they considered stealing the hired vehicle which the women had used for their trip, but decided against it because it had a tracking device.
As soon as they left, the severely traumatised victims activated the panic button and alerted the owners of the lodge. SAPS Hazyview and Spes-Plan responded immediately and arrived within minutes.
The victims were taken to Matikwane Hospital for physical examination. According to Ms Christel Matthee, manager of Tatenda, the medical staff members were insensitive and highly unprofessional in dealing with the situation.
Although the victims were taken to the hospital at 05:00, they were attended to only at 10:30. Mr Ronnie Masilela, spokesman for the health department, on enquiry said that the department was not aware of the allegations, but would investigate them.
Both women are now taking antiretroviral drugs and the younger one has also been treated to prevent pregnancy. Airline tickets were arranged for them and they flew back to Johannesburg later in the morning.
The police remained at the crime scene throughout the morning collecting information. Officers of the White River Dog Unit were also on the scene and collected a great deal of evidence.
Sgt Jaco Roux, who controls the blood-and-semen dog, confirmed that he too, had managed to lift evidence which would hopefully help to secure a conviction, should the suspects be apprehended.