Safety of minors in question following rape cases

Since the start of the year, more and more rape cases involving minors have been surfacing, as the cracks in Chatsworth’s walls open to reveal the mass of moral and social degradation.

Starting in Montford, a father has been accused of raping his 14-year-old daughter on four different occasions. As such, the man made his first appearance in the Chatsworth Magistrates Court on Friday after being arrested two days prior. According to court documents, bail was opposed with the accused facing four charges of rape.

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Cpt Carmen Rhynes of eThekwini district communications, said, “It is alleged that on March 19, a 41-year-old father raped his 14-year-old daughter. He was arrested and appeared in court on Friday, March 22. The Chatsworth FCS unit is investigating the matter and has opposed bail.”

In a separate incident, on Saturday, PT Alarms Chatsworth ambassador, Kegan Naidoo, together with Chatsworth SAPS, arrested a man after he had allegedly kidnapped and repeatedly raped a child in Welbedacht.

“We received information from the Chatsworth SAPS detective regarding a rape and kidnapping. The female stated that she had been kidnapped by a male from the Welbedacht area and held against her will. The female had been kept in a shack and was raped multiple times over one week. Investigations led the team to Welbedacht where the suspect could not be located as he abandoned his known place of residence as per the complainant. The suspect was then tracked down by the PT Alarms ambassadors and Chatsworth SAPS to the Moorton grounds where he was successfully apprehended,” said Naidoo.

Cpt Rhynes provided further details to this case by stating that on March 19, at 7:15pm, the 12- year-old girl was on her way to the gym, but never arrived.

“The family with neighbours and police searched for the victim but could not find her. The mother of the child opened a missing person’s report at Chatsworth SAPS. Later in the week, a family member informed them that the victim was being held by her boyfriend, a male- aged 28- years-old, who did not want her to leave his shack in Welbedacht East. The family then went to the boyfriend’s residence and collected the victim. The victim said that her boyfriend did not want her to leave his premises until she had sexual intercourse with him. She refused and so he kept her from leaving his premises. On Thursday, March 21, he raped her. A case of rape is being investigated. The suspect has been arrested and will appear in the Chatsworth Magistrates Court soon,” she added.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the ongoing case of a rape-accused church leader headed back to the Chatsworth Magistrates Court, where the formal bail hearing began in front of a gallery brimming with anger, disgust, and hope.

Taking the stand, the accused was represented by advocate, Christo Van Schalkwyk, who read an affidavit on behalf of the 31-year-old, which detailed reasons as to why bail should be granted.

The accused alleged that the victim made up this story because she was caught in school for smoking, however, it was revealed by both the prosecutor and magistrate that there are in fact two victims and four counts against the accused.

The accused further stated under oath that he is currently employed by Capsicum, however, the institution tried to serve a dismissal letter on him via his attorney, Shireen Soobrathi, who refused to accept service of the said letter. The accused further gave legal evidence about the rape statistics in South Africa.

In his cross-examination, the prosecutor proved that the accused did not have the necessary qualifications to make such statements to the court.

He made further statements that there was no evidence against him without knowing what evidence the prosecution had in its possession.

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Unfortunately, before the hearing could go any further, the magistrate conceded that enough time had been spent thus far with other cases needing to be attended to.

As such, the bail hearing will continue on March 27. Until then, the accused remains behind bars.