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Man up for raping American
29/01/2008 21:05 - (SA)
Thabisile Khoza and Oris Mnisi
Bushbuckridge - A man accused of raping an American social worker in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, appeared briefly in court on Tuesday.
His lawyer told the Mhala Regional Court that he was withdrawing from the case as his client would not follow his advice.
The 23-year-old man was remanded in custody until next Tuesday.
The 31-year-old woman was meant to return to the USA last week but will have to remain in South Africa until the case is finalised.
She had been staying and working at the Hlengelo homebased care centre in Dwarsloop when she was raped on January 20.
She had been waiting for a taxi at about 18:30 after attending a traditional dance ceremony, when she accepted a lift from a man in a bakkie.
She told police she was taken into the veld and raped.
She was then driven back to the main road and was able to escape at a four-way stop.
Martha Mawila, a co-founder and project manager at the Hlengelo homebased care centre said she and her colleagues were still in shock about the incident, and embarrassed.
"We are so embarrassed about what our kids are doing to foreign people. I'm also a woman and I wouldn't like been in the situation she went through, especially in a foreign country," said Mawila.
"She taught us a lot while she was here and now we don't know whether she will return to South Africa after this incident," she added.
The American woman had arrived in South Africa in September last year to do research about HIV and Aids and to help develop rural communities.
- African Eye
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