A 74-year-old Limpopo man accused of raping a six-year-old grade 1 pupil has claimed that he was attacked by fellow inmates at the police station cells where he has been kept.
The man from Maake village outside Tzaneen, through his lawyer advocate Mishack Monyipote, yesterday asked the Lenyenye magistrate's court to grant him permission to see a medical doctor because he was assaulted.
"The accused told me that a group of inmates in the Maake police holding cells attacked him. He said one of the men kicked him on the forehead on Wednesday.
"We ask the court to allow him to go for medical treatment and for the authorities to relocate him from the cell where he was attacked. He is now feeling dizzy and terrified," he said.
The 74-year-old appeared not to understand allegations levelled against him when prosecutor Albert Ngwana read out the charge sheet.
Magistrate Renie Govendor granted him permission to get medical attention and that he should be placed in a new holding cell.
The victim's 33-year-old mother told Sowetan that she realised on Tuesday last week that her daughter was raped.
"When I came back from work I noticed that she was not herself. I asked her what was wrong and she didn't want to say a word.
"I reached for a belt and I whipped her once. She then told me that the suspect called her to his house and offered her chips to shut up," she said.
'Beaten' rape suspect asks to leave cells
Image: Elijar Mushiana
A 74-year-old Limpopo man accused of raping a six-year-old grade 1 pupil has claimed that he was attacked by fellow inmates at the police station cells where he has been kept.
The man from Maake village outside Tzaneen, through his lawyer advocate Mishack Monyipote, yesterday asked the Lenyenye magistrate's court to grant him permission to see a medical doctor because he was assaulted.
"The accused told me that a group of inmates in the Maake police holding cells attacked him. He said one of the men kicked him on the forehead on Wednesday.
"We ask the court to allow him to go for medical treatment and for the authorities to relocate him from the cell where he was attacked. He is now feeling dizzy and terrified," he said.
The 74-year-old appeared not to understand allegations levelled against him when prosecutor Albert Ngwana read out the charge sheet.
Magistrate Renie Govendor granted him permission to get medical attention and that he should be placed in a new holding cell.
The victim's 33-year-old mother told Sowetan that she realised on Tuesday last week that her daughter was raped.
"When I came back from work I noticed that she was not herself. I asked her what was wrong and she didn't want to say a word.
"I reached for a belt and I whipped her once. She then told me that the suspect called her to his house and offered her chips to shut up," she said.
Dros rape case postponed
The mother said the alleged rapist, who is also her neighbour, ordered her six-year-old to lie down on a blanket he had put on the floor and raped her.
"I want to kill him with my own hands. They should never grant him bail. My child can't sleep at night because she is having flashbacks and she speaks in her sleep," she said.
The man's wife said her husband is innocent.
"I don't drink alcohol, my husband drinks and I know he has several girlfriends of his age in the village, not minors, that he often see at taverns.
"We have been married since Nelson Mandela was released from jail and I have (not) heard nor been told that my husband had committed any criminal offence," she said.
The woman said she would support her husband till the end even if it means spending her entire social grant saving to set him free.
Police spokesman Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said the alleged rape took place on Novemver 20 around 4pm whereby the suspect, who is the victim's neighbour, lured the girl to his house and
raped her.
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