Parents of young boys, who became victims of an alleged serial rapist at Mzingazi in Richards Bay on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, say their children are traumatised.
A 25-year-old suspect from the area appeared in court on nine charges of rape. His victims are young boys between the ages of six and nine. The man was remanded in custody.
It’s not known when the rapes started, but some in the community allege that the perpetrator had been raping young boys in the area since 2013. The rapes allegedly took place in a back room of the perpetrator’s family home. The young victims used to play near the house. They were allegedly given money to keep quiet, but some have now broken the silence.
Parents of the young victims say the children have nightmares and they battle with their school work. The mother of one of the victims says her son, who is six years old, was acting strangely. This is when she first learnt that he had been allegedly raped by someone known to the community.
A concerned parent of the victim, explained how her son was molested by the accused, “It was during the day while my child was at the accused house. The other children went outside to pee and then the accused locked the door behind them and he took out a gun and placed it on top if the bed and told him to undress. When he refused, he threatened to shoot him. After some time, he undressed and the accused told him to kneel and face the other way and that’s when he started to rape him. After the accused was done raping my son, my son then told the suspects nephew about what just happened and the nephew said to him, my uncle usually does that to other kids.”
A parent of another child says if it was not for the bravery of her son, they would have not known about this to date.
“My niece came to me and told me that my son had something to tell me. That’s when he told me that the accused is raping us with the other three kids he mentioned at that time. We then went to the accused house, upon our arrival we found that this is known to his parents because even before we mentioned what we came for, the accused mother asked him if he was still raping kids. The mother then said to us we are not the first ones to come and report this; in the past one parent came guns blazing after his kid was reported to have been allegedly raped by the accused. The accused would rape the kids and give them R5 or R7. It’s been a minute since our kids had supper in our homes.”
Another parent of the victim says some victims did not report the rape incident after their abuser told them what he was doing to them was normal.
“The accused would invite the kids and tell them to catch chickens for him. Upon catching the chickens, he then grabbed my grandson and locked him inside his room with one of the neighbour’s kid. He would then rape them simultaneously. Once he was done he then gave them money and threatened to kill them if they told us as parents. He would then tell them what he did you them was normal because he does it to all the boys.”
KwaZulu-Natal Police Spokesperson Thembeka Mbhele says the suspect will appear in court on Monday for a formal bail application.
“There’s an approximately 25-years-old suspect who appeared in court on the 4th, and he’s going to appear again on the 11th, on Monday for a formal bail application. This is after the case of raped with nine counts that has been opened against him where children ranging from the ages of 7 to 13 alleges that he was raping them in his home, sometime between 2013 up until this year in January. The suspect is still in custody and the matter is still under investigation.”
The community has vowed to follow the case until the end demanding justice for the victims.
