news

NEWS
Rape scourge continues in Gauteng, 6 November 2002
By Gill Gifford

Another little girl has been raped and admitted to hospital.

The four-year-old was allegedly sexually abused by a 15-year-old boy who lived near her home in the Mpelisweni squatter camp on the East Rand.

Superintendent Andy Pieke said the incident occurred at about 9am on Monday but was reported to police only at 7.30pm.

"The neighbours called the police out to investigate after insisting that the mother take the child to hospital," Pieke said.

'The phenomenon of baby rape is very new'
Medical officials at the hospital confirmed that the child had been raped.

"Police went back to the scene and arrested a suspect that same night. He is a 15-year-old illegal immigrant from Mozambique. He was known to the victim and her family," said Pieke.

The suspect was due to appear in the Boksburg magistrate's court on Wednesday.

This is the fourth reported case of child rape in Gauteng this week. A five-month-old baby was raped in Hillbrow over the weekend, and two young girls were attacked and raped at an illegal Children's Day celebration held at Zoo Lake in Johannesburg.

Social worker Aileen Langley of Johannesburg Child Welfare's Child Abuse Treatment and Training Services said while the public was horrified by the recent cases, the incidents were of the kind that her unit dealt with every day.

"There hasn't been a sudden increase in child rapes, although we have seen a steady climb of abuses in recent years. What we are seeing in the media now is what we have always had," Langley said.

"The phenomenon of baby rape is very new, and is an area that needs a lot of research," she added.

Mpho, the five-month-old baby who was raped inside her parents' flat in Hillbrow, is in a satisfactory condition at Johannesburg Hospital.

A doctor at the hospital said everything was well, and that the only thing left was to determine whether the baby would be released into the care of her parents or to officials of the Department of Social Services, who would place Mpho in foster care.

Police spokesperson Chris Wilken said no one had been arrested in connection with the rape