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A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her 17-year-old neighbour in a Yeoville building this week.
The brutal assault on the child is said to have happened on Monday and a case was opened at the Yeoville Police Station on Tuesday – after the girl’s maternal grandmother took her to the police station upon allegedly finding tearing and scratches on her genitals.
The 17-year-old has not been arrested yet because the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit in Braamfontein – which deals with matters involving minors – is still investigating the matter.
Joburg East Cluster spokesperson Captain Richard Munyai confirmed that a case of rape had been opened, but when asked why the 17-year-old had not been arrested yet, he said a decision on whether or not to arrest would be made by a probation officer after interviews with the boy and his family are conducted, and other procedures pertaining to minor offenders needed to be followed.
The child’s distraught extended family from her deceased mother’s side and her father spoke to City Press today about the traumatic week that had befallen the child and the entire family.
“On Monday, I got home from work late and found my daughter sleeping. The next day she was meant to go to school – which is close to her maternal grandmother’s house – but the school called me to say she hadn’t arrived there. When I got to her grandmother’s house, she said the child was at the police station after she saw that she was hurt. She couldn’t go to the toilet because she was in so much pain,” the child’s father said.
At the police station, the man said it was confirmed she had been vaginally penetrated.
“We live in the same block of flats with the boy. I know his family. When I went to speak to them about what happened, they said they were not supporting what he did. They took him to the police station yesterday to make a statement. My heart is broken by the pain my child is in,” the man said, sighing heavily, “I don’t understand this. I don’t understand any of this,” he said.
But the child’s maternal relatives are incensed that the 17-year-old hasn’t been arrested yet, despite a case having been opened on Tuesday.
The maternal family also alleges that the perpetrator’s family are threatening them.
“After struggling to get a case number, we called the brigadier at the Yeoville station yesterday who referred us to the station commander. The station commander shouted at us for talking to the brigadier and eventually gave us the case number. Right now the child is with her aunt but isn’t good, she can’t walk or sit. When you ask who did this to her, she is able to point out the boy. She says he did this to her in a balcony at the building they live in,” a relative from the maternal family said.
Munyai said: “I can confirm that a rape case is being investigated. The suspect is known. There are no arrests at the moment but the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit is conducting investigations and interviews with the 17 year-old and his family.”
This is an ongoing story.
