A 39-year old man and his 26-year old ‘son-in-law’ were arrested for the rape and abduction of a 14-year old girl from her Umthatha home in the Eastern Cape this week, said KwaZulu-Natal police in a statement on Thursday.
According to police spokesperson Major Thulani Zwane, the young teenager was at home in January this year when a minibus parked outside and a group of males jumped out. It’s alleged they forced her into the vehicle and drove her to a house she didn’t know.
“Upon arrival to that house she was shown a man and was informed that he was her new husband. In the midst of that confusion her ‘new husband’ slept with her without her consent. A few days later, fifteen sheep were sent to the girl’s family by the so called husband,” he said.
“The young girl contacted her parents and asked what was going on and she further informed them she did not like what this man was doing to her. The parents informed her that she was at her new home and that man she was with will take care of her.”
As her “new husband” returned to KwaZulu-Natal where he was employed, he left the girl behind. But, she did not let up and continued to let her parents know how unhappy she was. Her mother eventually fetched her, telling her she must tell her new ‘husband’ she was unhappy in person. She dropped the girl off with the man at Bugs Farm near Hammersdale, and left.
Realizing her mother had ditched her, things went from bad to worse for the teen, when she made it clear to him that she did not want to be married to him. Her ‘husband was adamant that he paid for her so she must perform her “wifely duties”.
“It all got too much for the girl and on the evening of 6 May 2015, the young girl contemplated committing suicide. Her neighbour found her sitting behind the house in the dark by herself. When the neighbour questioned her about sitting in the dark alone, she related to the neighbour that she wanted to kill herself because she did not like the man she was staying with,” said Zwane.
“The next morning the ‘husband’ was frantically looking for her and when he found her in the neighbour’s room he beat her up. The young lady managed to make a call to the police. The Hammersdale police members took the young girl away to a place of safety and opened a case of rape and abduction.”
The case was handed to the Pinetown Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses Unit for further investigation.
Police arrested her father after it was discovered he helped in the abduction.
KZN Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, applauded the members for the arrest of the suspects.
“We cannot tolerate people who are forcing their young children to get involved in marriages. I discourage those parents who sacrifice the lives of their daughters to get marry so that they will get lobola,” she said.
The two suspects appeared in the Hammersdale Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
Image source: SAPS
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