4 held after missionaries raped
2006-07-03 16:37
Durban - Four men have been arrested in connection with the rape of two foreign missionaries and the shooting of one of them on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, said police on Monday.
Captain Vincent Pandarum said the two women - one from Kenya and the other from the United States - were raped on Friday night as they were walking home on the Old Harding Road near Oslo Beach.
The two, who had been working in the area for the past two years, were robbed of their handbags before the 23-year-old Kenyan was shot in the stomach.
Then, they both were raped.
Pandarum said the injured woman was in a stable, but serious, condition while the 21-year-old Californian was traumatised.
Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said the two women had been transferred from Port Shepstone Hospital to St Augustine's Hospital in Durban.
Shortly after the attack, police responded to an attempted robbery.
Man handed himself in
Pandarum said the same four men tried to rob two men who were warming themselves near a fire. A scuffle broke out and two men were arrested in dense bush after being tracked by police dogs.
On Sunday, police arrested a third man, whom they believe was involved. On Monday morning, a 23-year old man handed himself in at the Port Shepstone police station.
Pandarum said detectives believed the four men also were involved in two other armed robberies after the two missionaries had been raped.
It was not known with which church group the two women were associated.
- SAPA