The Cape Times reported on Wednesday that one of its reporters had been charged with raping a 7-year-old.

It said the “multimedia journalist” was arrested on Sunday and appeared in Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday charged with committing the offence in Nyanga in 2014.

Cape Times editor Aneez Salie was quoted as saying the newspaper‚ part of the Independent Media group chaired by Iqbal Survé‚ was “shocked to its core”.

He said: “We‚ and Independent Media as a group‚ have taken a tough and uncompromising stance to eradicate violence against women and children.

“Child rape is surely the most abominable of such violence.”

Salie said the company had suspended the reporter — who has written about several child rape cases for the Cape Times‚ most recently four weeks ago — pending the outcome of the case. He remains in custody until his bail hearing on October 1.

The Cape Times named the reporter involved‚ but the law prevents the publication doing so until he has pleaded.