No justice after three-year-old is allegedly raped at a KaNyamazane crèche
A staff member at the young girl’s crèche was accused of raping her.
The mother of a three-year-old girl said she has lost faith in the justice system after her daughter was raped, with no arrests having been made.
According to her, the incident happened at a crèche in Entokozweni on November 11, last year. The victim was accompanied to school by her 10-year-old brother. said her daughter was early for school and the gate had not been opened yet.
“My son left as soon as he saw a staff member approaching to open the school. I received a call at 09:00 informing me that my daughter was not in a good state. One of the teachers said that during assembly she noticed my daughter’s white shorts had blood stains on them.
“When I got there, you could tell that something had happened to my daughter. She was quiet and her mood was not the same as it was that morning,” she added.
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The mother said she took her daughter to a local clinic before she was referred to Rob Ferreira Hospital. The doctor conducted a rape kit examination and it was confirmed she had been sexually abused.
“When we asked her what happened she said the staff member who opened the school hurt her. We later went to his house. They called the police on us because they assumed we were there to hurt him. He was taken to the police station in a van.
“I opened a case at the KaNyamazane Police Station. The staff member was allowed to go home; he was never arrested.” she added.
The next day, the officer handling the case referred the victim’s mother to the Pienaar Police Station where both her children spoke to forensic social workers.
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“My 10-year-old son was sent to a room to speak to one of the professionals. I was allowed to accompany my daughter to the room where she would be questioned, but I was not allowed to stay while she spoke to the two female forensic social workers,” she said.
The officials came back saying her daughter was unresponsive.
“They told us they would close the case and that we should come back when she is five years old,” she said.
She expressed her distress over the lack of urgency concerning the case.
“My daughter’s response about what had happened to her has not changed. She keeps saying his name and that he is the one who hurt her, yet the social workers are saying my daughter refused to speak. A part of me is gone after what happened to my daughter; this has broken me spiritually,” the mother said.
This publication sent an enquiry to a police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Jabu Ndubane. She said the docket has been withdrawn because of a lack of evidence.
“The case had no lead and the forensic social workers had no breakthrough after speaking with the victim. This does not mean that the case has been thrown out. If we have evidence, then it will lead to the perpetrator’s arrest,” Ndubane said.
She dismissed the claims that the mother was told to return when her daughter turns five.
