Ten men, aged between 16 and 24 years old, are on trial this week in the Eastern Cape High Court on counts of housebreaking with intent to murder, assault, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and the rape of a minor.
Ten men, aged between 16 and 24 years old, are on trial this week in the Eastern Cape High Court on counts of housebreaking with intent to murder, assault, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and the rape of a minor.
According to the charge sheet, the accused – who are all thought tobe members of a gang broke into the house of a rival gang member in Manyano township in the Indwe district near Lady Frere, with the intention of killing him.
The state alleges that the accused, armed with knives andpangas, then beat the occupants ofthe house after discovering that the member of the rival gang was notthere.
Accused no 7, who is a minor,is alleged to have then pulled one ofthe occupants a 12 year old girl out
of the house where he threatened to stab her, put a bucket over her head and raped her repeatedly.
He was then said to have invited the rest of the accused present to rape her as well, with three other members of the group taking turns to rape the complainant while the others watched.
The accused are said to have run off before the police arrived on the scene. The complainant, having sustained injuries to both her vagina and anus, then walked home where she reported the crime to her mother and police.
On Tuesday, Accused no 7, who was called the “frontrunner” of the rape by the prosecution, denied the charge, telling the court that while he was armed with a knife, sexual intercourse did take place and that he had run away from the police.
He said he did not threaten the complainant; put a bucket over her head; have anal intercourse with her or invite other members of the group to have intercourse with her as well. He further claimed that the complainant allowed the act to take place, and that he was not fully aware of what was going on as he was tired and had smoked dagga earlier.
The court will continue to hear the testimonies of the accused and witnesses this week and the next, with the Director of Public Prosecutions pushing for life sentences if the four men accused of rape are convicted.
This is as a result of the complainant being under the age of 16 years and having been raped more than once by more than one person acting in the furtherance of a common purpose.
