Two Eastern Cape moms could face jail time for allegedly avenging their children's rapes.
Image: 123RF/canjoena
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The future of two women remains in limbo after they “took revenge” against the men who allegedly raped their children.

One is fighting a criminal conviction of assault after being found guilty of beating the alleged rapist while another faces uncertainty after she allegedly sliced off the suspect's genitals.

The first incident occurred in September 2018.

The aunt of an 11-year-old girl who has cared for her since her mother died 10 years ago told SowetanLIVE sister publication TimesLIVE that she was disappointed at how the wheels of justice seemed to have turned against her.

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“The alleged rapist claimed that I had assaulted him but I was in hospital with the child when the community beat him up. While he is still waiting for his case to be heard, I was handed a two-year sentence for assault,” said *Mam’Anna.

“I am out on bail pending my appeal against my sentence and conviction,” she added.

Mam’Anna said her family’s nightmare ordeal started when she sent the child, whom she regards as her daughter, to dispose of potato peels in a goat kraal across the road from their home.

“There’s a swing nearby so after she disposed of these, she spent some time playing on the swing. On her way back home, she was accosted by a man who we know in the community. He was drunk. He forced her to drink alcohol and at knife point, he led her to the back of our yard where he raped her,” she alleged.

A neighbour found it odd to see the child walking with the man and alerted the child's aunt.

“I followed in that direction and there, behind the houses, I found the child on his lap. He had undressed her,” she said. “He was drunk he could not even get up and run away,” she added.

Soon a huge crowd gathered. The police and ambulance were called as the child was vomiting. She and the child left in the ambulance for hospital.

“The [alleged rapist] was then beaten by the residents. On Monday, [the day after the incident] I came back from hospital and he too was released from hospital. [The alleged rapist] opened an assault case against me.”

She was found guilty of assault and sentenced to two years behind bars. She alerted the court of her intention to appeal and was released on R1,000 bail on the day she was sentenced.

The case of the alleged rapist returns to court in January 2020 while her appeal will be heard in December 2019.

“My child gets raped and I get convicted. I  am not sure what it is wrong with the justice system,” she said.

Meanwhile, crime-fighting organisation Enough is Enough has raised funds to legally support 23-year-old Veronique Makwena of Port Elizabeth who allegedly sliced off the genitals of the man she believes raped and killed her five-year-old daughter.

Makwena, her 25-year-old sister-in-law and a 24-year-old family friend were arrested for allegedly avenging the rape and murder of the child.

The girl was found dead in a dilapidated toilet cubicle in Rocklands near their home in August.

The police had earlier arrested the same man and questioned him about the crime. He was reportedly released pending the outcome of DNA results.

The three accused, however, allegedly took the law into their own hands. The man's genitals have since been reattached.

Makwena's case returns to court in February 2020.

*Her real name has been withheld to protect the identity of the child.


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