17-year-old raped by fake doctor just after giving birth

Police have confirmed that a 17-year-old girl was raped by a man posing as a doctor on Monday only hours after giving birth, The Sowetan reports.

The man was arrested at an Eastern Cape hospital and will appear in the Mthatha Magistrate’s Court on rape charges.

According to police captain Dineo Koena: “On Tuesday‚ a man came posing as a doctor. He asked her how she was doing following the birthing experience. She complained of heavy bleeding and he said he would [perform] a check-up on her.

“He then ordered her to undress and then he raped her.”

READ MORE: SA is a nation of abusers, stats show

While the rape reportedly occurred at around 9.30am at the hospital, the suspected rapist was only arrested roughly three hours after it occurred. The man was apparently still wondering freely around the building.

Koena confirmed that the man was not employed at the hospital in any capacity.

The rape of South African women is among the highest in the world, according to a Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) report released in June.

“A total of 250 out of every 100 000 women were victims of sexual offence, compared to 120 out of every 100 000 men,” the 2016-17 Victims of Crime report stated.

“Using the 2016-17 South African Police Service statistics, in which 80% of the reported sexual offences were rape, together with Stats SA’s estimate that 68.5% of the sexual offences victims were women, we obtain a crude estimate of the number of women raped per 100 000 as 138. This figure is among the highest in the world.”