Groenkloof attack alarm
Two women survive rape ordeal in the Groenkloof nature reserve.
The increase number of attacks in the Groenkloof Nature reserve and surrounding areas has the Tshwane metro worried that it has called a meeting of concerned residents to address this alarming trend.
The meeting will be hosted by Tshwane metro member of the mayoral council, Subesh Pillay on 10 May at a venue still to be determined.
Pillay said the meeting would discuss the crime linked to the nature reserve.
This after two women were attacked in the nature reserve last week.
It would appear the women did not report the incident because the Sunnyside police had no record of the attempted rape in a nature reserve, spokesperson Asnath Malatsi confirmed adding the women were welcome to lay a charge.
Saloshani Pather and her partner said this week, they were almost raped in the reserve.
Their in-law Joanne Ekron said Pather and her partner were about two kilometres into the hike when two men attacked them around 15:00.
She said the men held them at knifepoint, took their cellphones, removed their shoes, forced the women to lie on the ground and began fondling them.
Ekron said the women screamed, praying out loud.
“One of the men pulled back, and ran off with the women’s takkies ,” said Ekron.
Ekron said she was disappointed at the security at the reserve.
“As for the security at the reserve, you register and pay an entrance fee …you’d expect to be safe,” she said.
“There is nothing at the gate to warn you of what might occur.”
She said when the ladies got to the reception area of the reserve and informed the guards there, they were taken to the scene of the attack without any concern for the trauma they’d suffered.
Ekron said the trip to the crime scene yielded nothing and the women were taken back to the reserve office.
“The ladies got a phone from a stranger and called relatives,” she said adding that the Sunnyside police were unhelpful.
“They were told the reserve was not in the Sunnyside police jurisdiction.”
An official at the reserve told Rekord the incident was being investigated, and that similar attacks had been reported in the past few months.
Also read:
The end of Groenkoof Nature Reserve
Two more attacks in Groenkloof reserve
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