Police are looking for a young male suspect accused of raping nine children aged eight to 12 in bush near a school in Santa township.
In a late-breaking drama yesterday, parents of the children were taken to Fleet Street police station to make statements.
The investigating officer, Detective Warrant Officer Rudi van Dyk, of the family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit, confirmed that:
- Nine allegations of child rape are being investigated in terms of the Sexual Offences Act;
- The child victims attend a school in Santa; and
- The nine children were being medically examined in a local hospital late yesterday.
Van Dyk said the school held a meeting with parents last week after becoming aware of the alleged rapes, and then called the police yesterday.
“The parents are devastated. It is horrible, but it happens,” he said.
One of the parents said they were too distraught and busy at the police station to comment but would talk to the media soon.
While the investigating officer said police did not know the age of the alleged rapist, gym owner John Swanepoel said the community was saying that the suspect 12.
Swanepoel said a resident of Santa close to the suspect’s family broke down and told him that an eight-year-old relative of hers had allegedly been raped five times by the same young male.
Swanepoel, who has two children, leapt into action after discovering that on Monday the young victim and her relative allegedly spent from 8am to 5pm trying to get an examination at a public health institution.
Swanepoel said teachers and parents started raising the issue at the school on Friday, but the police were only brought into the picture at 9am yesterday.
He felt aggrieved with education officials for not raising the alarm sooner saying, “children have been raped repeatedly for almost the whole year”.
Little is known of the suspect, but the allegations police are probing is that the victims were pulled into bush close to the school and raped by him. — mikel@dispatch.co.za