Woman raped in front of sons

2011-11-23 08:05

Jonathan Erasmus, The Witness

Durban - A Gauteng woman has been raped in front of her teenage sons and their friends, just hours after arriving in KwaZulu-Natal for a holiday.

After raping the mother from Vanderbijlpark and ransacking the self-catering unit, the four armed men went to another self-catering unit on the same property and held the resident elderly couple up at gunpoint while they searched the house, threatening them with rape and murder.

The 38-year-old rape victim, her two sons and their two friends arrived in Richards Bay’s upmarket Meerensee for a five-day holiday just after 21:00 on Monday.

According to a victim from the second unit, who wished not be named fearing for her safety, the armed men must have entered the property between 21:30 and 22:00. It is protected by five-metre walls and an electric gate

The woman and her husband, from Johannesburg, are semi-permanent as her husband is doing contract work in Richards Bay.

Boys told to look away

“The other group had just arrived [from Vanderbijlpark] and asked us if there was a shop nearby as they needed a few items. The armed men must have entered the property when they left the premises because when they returned they were waiting for them,” said the woman.

They allegedly forced the people into the home, forced the boys onto the ground and then one suspect raped the mother.

“One of the boys told us the mother just told them to look away while she was raped. He also said the robbers told them they were acting on ‘inside information’,” said the elderly victim.

She said the suspects entered her unit at about 23:30 through the bathroom and kitchen windows.

“We had just gone to bed. However, seconds after I got up to go and check on the dog our bedroom light flicked on and this man entered our room.”

With her husband waking up startled, the suspect pushed them both back onto the bed and immediately demanded jewellery, money, cellphones and laptops and threatened to rape her.

“We sat on the bed and pulled the duvet over us. One of the suspects started pulling the duvet down saying he was going to rape me, but he was distracted by my gold chain and instead took that. He kept saying ‘where is the money, we are going to kill you’.

“They then ordered us to lie on the ground and tied up our hands and feet with my husband’s shoelaces.”

Threatened, tied up

At this point the attackers escorted the four teenagers and the rape victim into the elderly couple’s unit.

“The other woman had a gash to her head and was stumbling. They tied them all up and threatened to kill us.

"They had no masks; they weren’t scared. One suspect said ‘[you holidaymakers] shouldn’t come here [Richards Bay], it’s a shit place; look what we do to you’,” said the elderly woman.

“By 23:50 the suspects took the rape victim’s BMW X5. They kept saying they were going to come back. By 01:45 [on Tuesday] my husband said we had better get out of the house.

“We forced a burglar bar open and climbed out the window, jumped walls into neighbouring premises until we were eventually helped by a drunk man who arranged to have the police called.

“I must say the SAPS in Richards Bay were flawless. We are thankful for their response,” she said.

On Tuesday morning the police recovered the BMW.

Richards Bay police spokesperson Captain Debbie Ferreira said no suspects have yet been arrested.

- The Witness