Mom’s effort sees girl’s alleged rapist arrested

Shain Germaner

Johannesburg: The 23-year-old man allegedly responsible for kidnapping, injuring and repeatedly raping an 18-year-old pupil earlier this month has been arrested after his victim’s mother was instrumental in tracking him down.

Jeppe police were hunting for the man who kidnapped the teenager and kept her in a filthy back room of a home in Bezuidenhout Valley. He had allegedly been stalking Maria* and two of her friends for weeks.

On Saturday, September 12, he approached the woman and apparently choked her until she lost consciousness.

When she regained her consciousness, she was in an unfamiliar room, and her captor allegedly spent the next day and a half raping her and cutting her with a knife when she tried to resist. He let her leave the room early on Monday morning.

At first she was too afraid to go to the police as he had said he would kill her and her family if she spoke of the incident.

But her family and friends insisted on opening a case when she got home. When police went to the property where Maria had been kept, the suspect had already fled.

Cape Times’s sister paper The Star contacted the Jeppe police during the week. Police officers wanted a picture of the suspect published in the media so the public could help them track him down. The photograph was never sent as the police claimed they were struggling to find a proper image of the man.

After more than a week of waiting for investigators to find the alleged rapist, Maria’s mother, Elizabeth,* took matters into her own hands.

When she visited the house where her daughter had allegedly been raped, she met the man’s parents and uncle.

Elizabeth claims the man’s parents begged her to persuade Maria to drop the charges, allegedly even offering her bribes. Elizabeth refused.

On Tuesday, she told the parents she would be willing to drop the charges if she got a chance to speak to the man and his parents in person. The man resurfaced, and he and his parents met Elizabeth at her home in Germiston.

When the family arrived and the man became verbally abusive, Elizabeth ordered a weeping Maria to leave the house for her own safety and told her to call the police. The man was arrested a short while later.

“I’m so glad he was arrested. I couldn’t wait for the police any longer,” said Elizabeth.

Jeppe police confirmed the arrest and said the man is expected to appear in court today.

* Not their real names