Incest: Girls removed from home
2003-03-10 22:02
Johannesburg - Police applied to the Alberton magistrate's court on Monday for a children's court inquiry into the case of three girls - two aged 10 and one aged four - who have been raped.
Two of the girls are sisters, and the one 10-year-old is a friend of the elder sister.
The father, 33, and grandfather, 56, of the two sisters and a 44-year-old friend of the father are charged with rape and indecent assault. The father and grandfather are in addition charged with incest.
Captain Flip van den Berg said the Child Protection Unit removed all three girls from their homes on Friday afternoon.
The girls were removed because the mother of the two sisters was "a suicide risk" and also because they might be intimidated by the accused.
One of the accused, the grandfather, has been released on R4 000 bail, and the father is to apply for bail on Wednesday.
The father's friend remains in custody.
Van den Berg said the children were moved to a place of safety.
In an order on Monday, the magistrate's court authorised the children to be kept in a place of safety until the children's court inquiry - guided by a social worker's report - decided where the girls should go. The options include sending the girls to a children's home.
The father was arrested at the Sundome in Randburg on February 20 after the wife, suspecting that the children had been abused, approached the Child Protection Unit and asked them to investigate.
The two sisters were examined by a doctor who confirmed that they had been abused.
- SAPA