'Death would have been better'

2003-03-03 17:30

Johannesburg - A Gauteng schoolgirl broke down in the witness box during the Johannesburg High Court rape trial of Gauteng chef Fanwell Khumalo, saying she had tried to commit suicide and that it would have been far better if she had been murdered instead of being raped.

She identified Khumalo as the person who went on the attack on January 31 1998, raping her twice and also raping her cousin.

Between sobs, the victim told Judge Max Labe, "I thought that death would be the answer."

The girl also testified that she spent a week in hospital during August last year after gulping down two cups of paraffin because she dreaded the trauma of reliving the incident.

Her mother had been shouting at her that she should have remained home and not gone with her cousin to visit a relative that day.

Questioned by prosecutor Marle van Heerden, the victim said Khumalo identified himself as a policeman and ordered the two to accompany him to make a statement.

He ignored their explanations that a pedestrian he pointed out was completely unknown to them and instead told them he had a firearm and would shoot them.

He then raped them at a deserted spot, and besides other sexual activities, the girl said she was again raped in a nearby house before the two managed to get to a local police station for help.

Khumalo has denied 132 charges against him, including 42 of rape, over a four-year period ending in May 2001. The hearing continues.

- SAPA