Staff at Dros restaurant in Silverton, Pretoria, where a six year-old girl was allegedly raped are so traumatised by the incident that they just wanted to put it behind them.

When Sowetan arrived at the establishment yesterday, the infamous play area that is normally populated by children was deserted.

City Press reported yesterday that staff had painted a harrowing picture of how the man accused of the rape had tried to flush his and the little girl's bloodied clothes down the toilet after he allegedly raped her.

A male patron who brought his two boys left hastily yesterday after realising the eatery was the one where a little girl was allegedly raped a week before. When Sowetan approached him as he left, the father said: "I want my children to be safe. I have never thought that I will need security for my children when I take them out. I cannot relax when I know that something will happen to them. I do not think I will ever leave my children alone in any play area or anywhere for that matter after this incident."

The father, who would not give his name, said he did not know about the incident until he received a call from a relative as he was being showed to their table. He said the relative asked where he was and after he had told her, she said that is where a girl was raped in a play area and that is when he decided to leave.

A staff member said the restaurant was always packed with patrons on weekends as their children had fun in the play area but said since the incident happened, they have not seen a child in the play area.

"It has been hard but we are trying by all means to ensure that people feel safe here so that we keep our jobs."

A senior staff member said the past week had been very difficult as most of the regular patrons had asked about the incident and they have had to assure patrons that it was an isolated incident.

"This should reflect the societal problem of violence against women and children, as well as the problem of drugs," said the staffer.

"We are trying to put this incident behind us. We have to assure parents that their children are safe but how do you do that when such a horrible incident happened in society?"