Toll-plaza rape horror drags on

2008-01-31 21:18

Pretoria - Four years after being hijacked and raped near the Grasmere toll plaza, the horror is still not over for a 49-year-old woman and her 18-year-old niece.

A third man this week went on trial in Pretoria High Court on 11 charges relating to the robbery, rape and attempted murder of the woman, her husband and their niece, aged 14 at the time.

The three were on their way to holiday in the Eastern Cape in March 2004 when they were forced to take the off-ramp at the toll gate and were kidnapped by a group of armed robbers.

The two women were forced into the boot of their car, while the husband was told to run, with the robbers firing shots at him.

The women were taken to a place in the veld, where two of the robbers raped the older one with a gun pointed at her head and a third raped her young niece before ordering their half-naked victims to run.

Also hijacking charge

Mozambican citizen James Langa, 22, pleaded not guilty in Pretoria High Court on Thursday to 11 charges relating to the Grasmere incident, as well as further charges stemming from the alleged attempted murder and hijacking of Elsabie van der Westhuizen in Potchefstroom a few months earlier.

Langa gave no explanation to his plea and delayed the trial for more than two days with complaints about his legal representative and the interpreter.

A Portuguese interpreter eventually had to be appointed so that the trial could proceed.

The hearing continues on Friday.

- SAPA