Vryheid rape accused says 6-year old was his girlfriend
The courtroom at the Vryheid Magistrate's Court was filled to capacity with outraged members of the community demanding justice for the little girl.
IT’S a Tuesday morning in Vryheid and a little girl, only six years old lies in a hospital bed in Vryheid District Hospital, the tiny, blameless victim of a brutal rape.
Her own father, a 31-year-old man, stands in Court Room B of Vryheid Magistrates’ Court, applying for bail. He has been accused of this heinous crime, which took place in Bhekuzulu over the weekend of August 18.
The courtroom is filled to capacity with outraged members of the community demanding justice for the little girl, while outside more angry protesters are waiting at the gates of the court in Church Street. Security has been heightened for the accused rapist’s bail application hearing as more than a hundred Bhekuzulu residents, led by Ward Councillor, Lekhukuthula Mhlongo, have united in a march to the courthouse to demand that bail be denied.
After the accused proposes his request for bail, the investigating officer takes to the stand and the courtroom is filled with anticipation as he offers a gripping insight into the reasons why he strongly objects to the accused rapist’s request that bail be granted.
He recounts the child’s story to the court and even the interpreter has to pause occasionally to take in the magnitude of the allegations against the man accused of raping his own child before he continues with the translation.
He explains that the child was sleeping in the same bed as the accused and he removed her underwear and proceeded to force himself on her despite her cries that she was in pain. That didn’t stop him and he told her to be quiet.
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According to the investigating officer’s shocking testimony, the accused, when asked by a community member how he could engage in intercourse with his own daughter, responded that she was his girlfriend. The crowd gasps collectively again and even a policeman in the courtroom shakes his head in disbelief at this outrageous claim.
See this week’s edition of the Vryheid Herald newspaper (print edition) for the full story.
