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Rape suspect 'left speechless'
11/12/2005 22:50 - (SA)
Virginia Keppler, Beeld
Pretoria - The three-centimetre piece of tongue an alleged rapist lost when his victim bit him helped police to arrest a 31-year-old man for the crime in Mpumalanga.
The suspect was arrested at Groblersdal Hospital on Sunday morning. He was speechless and in serious pain.
Police suspect the alleged rapist fled from Pretoria to Groblersdal where he initially sought medical help at the Syplaas clinic.
Police superintendent Piletji Sebola said the man was referred to Groblersdal Hospital for treatment.
"At the hospital, somebody who had heard about the hunt for the man with the missing tongue, called Groblersdal police and said that such a patient had been admitted," said Sebola.
"According to a doctor's report at the hospital, about three centimetres of the man's tongue had been bitten off."
He said: "This coincided with the police investigation, which showed that the piece of tongue found at the place where the alleged rape was committed was about three centimetres in length."
The severed tongue has been stored in the state mortuary in Pretoria since Thursday.
The suspect was discharged from hospital on Sunday afternoon and taken to Pretoria, where he is being held at Pretoria Central police station.
Sebola said the rape survivor, a 30-year-old woman, already had identified the suspect.
The man will appear in Pretoria magistrate's court later this
week.
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