'They wanted sex with a lesbian'

2007-03-01 15:47

Nonhlanhla Mondlane and Nkosana ka Makaula

Witbank - Two men raped a 19-year-old woman because they wanted to know how it felt to sleep with a lesbian.

The crime, which has been condemned by woman's rights activists, took place at White House squatter camp in Vosman near Witbank on Saturday.

"The woman told police that she left a tavern in the early hours of the morning with three males whom she met at the club," Highveld police spokesperson Captain Klaas Maloka said on Thursday.

"On the way two of the men grabbed her and took her to an open field and told her that they wanted to experience what it felt like to have sex with a lesbian. They stripped her naked and raped her several times. She tried to fight them off but they overpowered her and ignored her cries. The suspects later fled the scene on foot," said Maloka.

The men did not use condoms during the attack.

According to the woman, the third man tried to persuade his friends to leave the woman, but they refused and he walked off while they were undressing the woman.

Maloka said police were still searching for the suspects. "But they are known in the community and the victim knows them too. It is a matter of time before they are behind bars."

The woman is receiving counselling.

Emelda Mamothe Boikanyo, former head of the Women's Health and Information Services, a Gauteng-based organisation that counsels abused women, condemned the attack on Thursday.

"These men displayed the total disdain that our society has for moral values," Boikanyo said. "The fact that one of them tried to discourage the other two shows that they are not abnormal. They are just violent, aggressive and out of order. If they really wanted that information, they could have made anonymous inquiries on talk shows, or spoken to counsellors. They are just bad elements of our society. It is not a crime to be a lesbian."

- African Eye