Family of 10-year-old Verulam rape victim found
|Published
The suspect in the rape of a 10-year-old girl speaks to Legal Aid attorney Mustaqeem Ameer in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court. Picture: Gcina Ndwalane, INLSA The suspect in the rape of a 10-year-old girl speaks to Legal Aid attorney Mustaqeem Ameer in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court. Picture: Gcina Ndwalane, INLSA
Durban - The grandparents of the 10-year-old girl who was allegedly repeatedly raped by her stepfather have been located less than an hour from where she had been living after her mother’s death.
Department of Social Development spokesperson Vukani Mbhele said on Thursday that while the maternal grandparents had been identified, the child was still at a place of safety where she was receiving counselling and her physical health was being assessed.
The girl was rescued by the community in Verulam on Sunday and her 43-year-old stepfather arrested.
On Thursday the community picketed outside the Verulam Magistrate’s Court, where the man appeared, calling for him to be released so they could “finish what we started”.
The suspect was beaten by a mob when he was captured and the girl rescued. He hobbled into the courtroom, his face swollen and bruised.
When magistrate Irfan Khallil walked in, the suspect struggled to stand up, using his one mobile arm to brace himself.
When Khallil asked him if he could stand in the dock, he shook his head and was allowed to sit through proceedings.
Also in court was the new investigating officer, after the detective first assigned to the case was removed and is facing disciplinary action and possibly criminal charges for his lack of urgency when the case was initially reported on Sunday.
The suspect, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, is charged with raping and otherwise sexually assaulting his stepdaughter between 2013 and last year.
He is also charged with sexual grooming and exposing her to pornography.
The man elected to be represented by Legal Aid attorney Mustaqeem Ameer, who proceeded to tell the court about the man’s injuries, which Khallil noted. Asked if he required medical attention, the man, through Ameer, told the court that he had been to hospital already.
As he required continued medical treatment, the matter was postponed to July 25, to allow time for a medical report to be completed and then he would be admitted to the Westville Correctional Centre.
Until then, he will be held at the Verulam police station. He was transported there from court, flanked by two police officers, at the back of a police bakkie, escorted by two other police vehicles.
Picketers heckled and shouted as the convoy passed them outside court, calling the man an animal.
A neighbour who lives in the same yard as the man and child said they had arrived there four months ago. They did not see the child unless she was going out with the man.
She apparently did not go to school and was left locked in the room when he went to work. Neighbours believe he is a mechanic.
Another neighbour said seeing the man in court made him angry.
“He has been doing this for months, since he came to live with us. We didn’t know. It makes me so mad, he doesn’t deserve to live for what he did to her.”