By Karabo Rammutla
He told his step-daughter that he was tired of feeding another man’s child.
So he allegedly decided that raping her twice would be payment for the years he had fed the 12-year-old.
But the alleged rapist is a leader in his community.
And while the child is still reeling from the trauma of being raped, the community of Marikana in Mamelodi has been tormenting her. They accuse her of plotting with her mother to get their leader arrested.
The girl’s mother told Scrolla.Africa that her partner crept into her daughter’s bedroom, covered her mouth with his hand and raped her.
She said he told the girl that he was sick and tired of feeding another man’s child and that it was time to pay up.
“My daughter was scared and didn’t tell me anything, but on Wednesday night I heard her bedroom door open and my partner was not in our bed.
“I found her with pajamas on her knees and out of the blankets. I dressed her and went to sleep.”
She said when she asked her partner where he was, he said he had gone to the toilet outside.
“I was worried and when my daughter got back from school on Thursday I asked her why she had been undressed. She broke down in tears. She told me everything and I didn’t waste time, I went to the police and he was arrested the same day,” she said.
She said after her partner was arrested, the community turned against them.
“Old people started telling my child on her way from school to confess and come clean. They said we have plotted to get my partner arrested because he was apparently leaving me for another girl in the squatter camp,” she said.
“I had no choice but to leave. It was dangerous.”
She said some residents and relatives of her partner have tried to offer her money to drop the case.
“I hope he rots in jail. He has destroyed my daughter,” she said.
The stepfather, initially charged with rape, appeared briefly before the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court, but the court found there was not enough evidence to hold him. He was released on free bail pending a medical report that would determine whether the rapes had occurred.
