15-year-old suspect blames demons

BARELY a week after news of the brutal rape of a mentally ill girl shocked the country, an eight-year-old Grade 2 pupil is in hospital after she was raped, throttled and her eye gouged out.

The girl, from the Mvutshini area in Gingindlovu, KwaZulu-Natal, is in a serious condition in hospital following the attack, allegedly by a 15-year-old boy on Monday.

The teenager has been arrested.

Captain Thulani Zwane said the girl could barely walk, but managed to drag herself into the yard of her home before collapsing.

"She was dressed in her school uniform ... she was dishevelled and dirty. She mustered enough strength to inform her grandmother that she had been raped by a known teenager," Zwane said.

"The grandmother had been looking out for her as she was concerned that the child was late home from school."

Zwane said the girl had been walking home from school at about 2.30pm when she was attacked and dragged into the sugarcane field adjacent to her home.

"The suspect attempted to murder her by strangling her with his hands.

"He gouged her left eye out of the socket and tried unsuccessfully to gouge her right eye, which was left swollen and shut.

"She was bleeding profusely from both eyes.

"The suspect also bit her in the neck, raped her and left her lying helplessly on the ground," he said.

The victim was rushed to a nearby clinic and was subsequently transferred to hospital.

Police are also investigating an unconfirmed report that the teen had attacked another pupil at school.

The Witness reports that the teen's grandmother blamed evil spirits.

During the Easter weekend, she said, he had allegedly experienced visions of a man commanding him to commit evil deeds.

“We prayed for him at the time that he would no longer dream of this evil man. I believe evil spirits led him to do what he did.”

KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni said: "We have confidence in our courts of law and know the accused will be dealt with appropriately".

Last week, South Africans reacted with horror after a 17-year-old mentally unstable girl from Braamfischerville in Soweto was gang-raped and the act captured on video by the perpetrators. The video has since gone viral, with the National Prosecuting Authority warning that members of society would be prosecuted for possessing and distributing the video.

Several politicians, including Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, visited the teen's family to offer their support.

Eight people have since been arrested. Seven of them appeared in the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court yesterday.

"Rape itself is an abhorrent crime, but when accompanied by such gruesome acts of violence, it becomes inhuman," Zwane said.

"Such monstrous acts are totally unacceptable and are condemned in the strongest possible terms.

"The victims are physically, psychologically and emotionally scarred for life, while the perpetrators, if convicted, are free to live their lives normally after serving their prison terms."