Several suspects, including a 13-year-old boy, have been arrested in the Western Cape on charges of rape, attempted rape, and sexual assault.
Five of the suspects, aged between 13 and 42, were arrested in different cases in George and Knysna at the weekend.
They’re scheduled to make their first appearance in their respective magistrate’s courts this week.
Police Spokesperson, Malcolm Pojie, says in the case of the 3-year-old, the perpetrator allegedly lured a seven-year-old girl victim to the bushes close to her home and sexually assaulted her.
The child informed her mother, and the suspect who is known to the victim was pointed out and arrested.
Pojie says a social worker assessed the suspect and released him into his parents’ care pending further investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Chemical castration
Meanwhile, a proposal for chemical castration as punishment for rapists has been laid on the cards by various stakeholders in the country.
During the African National Congress Policy Conference last month, the party’s transformation sub-committee tabled the idea once again, after it was initially rejected at the last policy conference in 2017.
National Executive Committee member Lindiwe Sisulu, who chaired the commission, told a media briefing that the proposal had been revived by female delegates partially as a response to the series of horrific attacks on women over the days leading to the conference.
Human Rights activist, Petros Majola, says he supports chemical castration.
Majola, however, said that it should be implemented on the condition that a thorough investigation into the matter is done.
ANC Women’s League proposes chemical castration as a punishment for rapists:
