Top cops to track kid rapists

2005-09-07 21:39

Johannesburg - Teams of crack detectives are to probe a recent spate of child rapes in Mpumalanga, said the province's safety and security MEC Dina Pule on Wednesday.

Condemning the crimes as "despicable", she urged parents to take extra precautions with children and to teach them not to give directions to strangers.

A 14-year-old girl was brutally gang-raped in KaNyamazane by three men who had asked her for directions, a girl was raped by a neighbour in Elukwatini, near Ermelo, while her mother was at work, and two sisters were raped in the bush in Piet Retief by a man who followed them to the shops.

Pule's office said the detectives had been given just 21 days to make arrests - as was the norm in the province for violent crimes.

Rapists must be stigmatised

Asking for the public's help in solving the crimes, Pule warned that anyone who knew the whereabouts of the alleged rapists, but failed to tell police, could be prosecuted for harbouring criminals.

Pule reminded communities that rapists should be stigmatised, not the survivors of rape.

Her office said the government viewed crimes against women and children in a serious light and that victim support centres had been established throughout the province.

Pule would be undertaking a campaign to raise awareness about the incidence of child rape in the most-affected communities.

The adopt-a-cop and captain crime stop programmes would be used to educate scholars about abuse and rape.

- SAPA