AN AWAITING-TRIAL inmate has committed suicide after he was allegedly gang-raped in Krugersdorp prison.

AN AWAITING-TRIAL inmate has committed suicide after he was allegedly gang-raped in Krugersdorp prison.

Twenty-three-year-old Mahlaba Ntsoane was arrested last week for allegedly stealing a cellphone.

He was held at Krugersdorp prison and was due to appear in court on Tuesday.

He was allegedly gang raped on Sunday evening.

Warders on duty intervened after he screamed for help. He was taken to hospital the same evening for a medical checkup.

The following day he was found hanging from the roof of his cell.

An insider who spoke on condition of anonymity said: "Maybe things would have been different if the boy was taken for counselling immediately after being treated."

Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Manelisi Wolela confirmed the incident but could not comment further when contacted. He promised to give us a full response later but at the time of going to press Wolela said he had been in a meeting earlier and was not yet able to respond.

The deceased's mother Tirelo Ntsoane expressed her intense dissatisfaction with the warders regarding her son's death.

She said the warders could not say what time her son died.

"I want justice. I want to know what actually happened to my son. He would not do this to himself," said Ntsoane.

The deceased's elder sister Kelebogile Ntsoane was devastated by his death.

"When I last saw him he asked me to come to court on Tuesday. But that was not to be," she said.

"I want justice done in finding out what exactly happened to my brother. I loved him so much."

Mahlaba was a first-year human resources student at Westcol College in Krugersdorp.