Rustenburg teen lied about being sex slave – police

A 14-year-old Rustenburg girl could be charged with perjury after lying about being held against her will and sold as a sex slave by her aunt.

According to the girl, the ordeal started last year when she moved in with her aunt following her mother’s death, North Eastern Tribunereported.

The teen alleged that her aunt later locked her in a room with six old men and one of them raped her.

Claims were made that this became a daily occurrence, and that the girl decided to take a taxi to Johannesburg, where Metro police found her wandering on the M1 freeway last month.

The girl then told the police that she had escaped from her aunt, who used her as a child prostitute, and that she had become the laughing stock of her schoolmates who teased for being a “sex worker”.

The child was then referred to social development, and the case transferred to the Rusternburg Police Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit.

Norwood police spokesperson Sergeant Nurse Sanyane said it was later established that the teenager had fabricated the story.

According to Sanyane, police found that both the girl’s parents were alive (but not married) and that her father lived in Johannesburg.

Sanyane added that the girl currently lived with her mother’s family including the aunt – whom she accused of abusing her – who is the sole breadwinner.

“Everything that she told the police was a lie, including her name. She dropped out of school voluntarily. She was never teased by other pupils,”  Sanyane said.

Sanyane said the child had been visiting her father in Johannesburg when she was found.

“After the visit, she was given money to go back to Rustenberg; however, the child decided otherwise, and the police might charge her for perjury,” she said.

Last year, a Pretoria student was arrested for defeating the ends of justice after she allegedly “cried rape”.

The 20-year-old student claimed she had been abducted by four men in a bakkie, gang-raped in an unknown location and dumped on the corner of Grayston Drive and Rivonia Road in Sandton.

– Caxton News Service