Child marriage investigation widens
2013-02-05 11:38
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Pirates of Polokwane
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Johannesburg - An investigation into the marriage of a
13-year-old Limpopo girl to a 57-year-old sangoma could net more suspects,
Limpopo police said on Tuesday.
"We have widened the investigation and it still
continues... there could be more people who might be charged in the case,"
spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said.
He said the epileptic teenager had been taken to a place of
safety in Polokwane.
The sangoma was arrested on 23 January after a villager
complained to social workers. However, charges against him were later withdrawn,
as the girl's parents had consented to the marriage.
The girl's mother reportedly said the sangoma treated her
daughter for two years and cured her epilepsy. The sangoma then told her
ancestors were troubling the girl and she needed to be monitored. He offered to
marry her.
A charge of statutory rape against the sangoma was
reinstated.
Mulaudzi said the child's mother might face two possible
charges, one of negligence and another of allowing the child to have a sexual
relationship with an older person.
The National Prosecuting Authority would decide if the
mother should be charged, Mulaudzi said.
- SAPA
