Rapist demands to be called sir
2009-12-09 09:42
Pretoria - A woman from a smallholding north-east of Pretoria, was forced to call her rapist "sir" while he was raping her.
On Tuesday, nearly a week later, the 41-year-old woman and her family were still waiting for the police to come and take down their statements.
The Kameeldrift police station is apparently "refusing" to do so, since they're supposedly "too busy".
The woman, her husband, their 15-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son are staying in a guest house because they're too scared to return to the smallholding.
Threatened to stab children
As the woman left her home just after 10:00 on Wednesday last week, a man armed with a knife overpowered her and forced her back into the house. She asked the man not to hurt them, and said he could take everything.
When the children discovered their mother and the stranger, they started to scream. The man threatened the children.
"He insisted that we call him 'sir' and threatened to stab the children 50 times with the knife."
He took them through the house and repeatedly asked for a firearm.
"I tried to explain that we don't have a firearm. He insisted that he knew we had a firearm.
Hot iron
"He tied up the children's hands and feet and left them in the master bedroom. Then he took me to the laundry room where he switched on the iron and held it close to my face.
"He threatened to burn me if I didn't tell him were our firearm is. I dropped to my knees, begging him, and said: 'Please, we don't have a firearm'."
He then took the woman to her daughter's room and asked what she would do to save her daughter's life.
"I said I'd do anything. He said I must lie down and not look at him. He said if I make a noise he would slit my throat. I did what he said, and when he was finished, he ordered me to pull up my pants.
"I couldn't, because my hands were tied. He became angry when he had to pull up my pants and called me a 'useless white woman'," she said, sobbing.
The man then wanted to leave with her in her car, but she closed the garage door and locked it behind him. He fled with three cellphones, a laptop and jewellery.
Panic button
She pressed a panic button but the alarm did not trigger.
She and her children got into the car and fled to the neighbours, from where she phoned the police.
Her husband, who wasn't at home, said the police responded to the call within minutes, but didn't send a police woman to speak to his wife.
"There were about 30 policemen standing around in my yard, making jokes. My wife was sitting alone inside."
According to the woman's husband, the police didn't take any fingerprints, nor did they take photos of his children's or wife's wounds.
"It's unacceptable that the police aren't even looking for the suspect," he said.