Riot Hlatshwayo and Sakhile Mokoena

Riot Hlatshwayo and Sakhile Mokoena

A 95-year-old Mpumalanga granny, who twice accused her 23-year-old grandson of raping her and later confessed that she had only dreamt about it, is off the hook after her grandson declined to press charges against her.

The grandson, from Magudu village near Komatipoort, appeared before the Nkomazi magistrates' court on Thursday to answer to rape charges. But prosecutors withdrew the case after the old lady's confession.

Police wanted to arrest the granny and charge her with perjury, but her grandson intervened and asked them not to do so because he held no grudge against his grandmother.

"We agreed to drop the charges," said Tonga police spokesman, Mzwandile Nyambi.

Surprisingly, while the man had already been jailed for a week after being arrested for the alleged rape, his grandmother laid a second rape charge against him.

"We were surprised when the old lady claimed he had raped her again - despite the fact that he was in custody. It was not possible for him to have been involved," said Nyambi.

Police questioned the old lady and she confessed that she had dreamt about both rapes.

"She said she woke up feeling tired and with signs of having had sex. She said she believed that witches were using her grandson to bewitch her into having sex with invisible people who looked like her grandson," said Nyambi.

He said the case was the first of its kind in the area.