A six-year-old girl had to undergo surgery yesterday after she was allegedly raped by a 26-year-old neighbour in Mamelodi East, east of Pretoria, at the weekend.
The grade 1 pupil, who is recovering at Mamelodi Hospital, returned to her one-room rented backyard home carrying a small tub of yoghurt, a lollypop and a small pack of snacks on Saturday afternoon.
When her suspicious parents asked her where she got them, the girl said a well-known neighbour had "inserted" something in her and gave her the snacks afterwards.
When her 27-year-old mother took off her clothes to investigate, she was shocked.
"Her panties were full of blood. She seemed confused but she did explain what happened to her," said the distraught mother.
The girl said the neighbour took her to the shops to buy her sweets and later took her to his shack and raped her.
Her mother, who may not be named to protect her daughter's identity, said the child had only been out of sight for about 45 minutes that afternoon.
Girl (6) undergoes surgery after rape
A six-year-old girl had to undergo surgery yesterday after she was allegedly raped by a 26-year-old neighbour in Mamelodi East, east of Pretoria, at the weekend.
The grade 1 pupil, who is recovering at Mamelodi Hospital, returned to her one-room rented backyard home carrying a small tub of yoghurt, a lollypop and a small pack of snacks on Saturday afternoon.
When her suspicious parents asked her where she got them, the girl said a well-known neighbour had "inserted" something in her and gave her the snacks afterwards.
When her 27-year-old mother took off her clothes to investigate, she was shocked.
"Her panties were full of blood. She seemed confused but she did explain what happened to her," said the distraught mother.
The girl said the neighbour took her to the shops to buy her sweets and later took her to his shack and raped her.
Her mother, who may not be named to protect her daughter's identity, said the child had only been out of sight for about 45 minutes that afternoon.
"When I didn't see her for a while, I thought she was playing with my other neighbour's daughter," she said.
Other neighbours had seen the man carrying the victim on his shoulders at the shops in the same street but didn't suspect anything.
"The same man had approached me earlier in the day, offering to buy me a present ... maybe this is some form of revenge, I don't know," the mother said.
The suspect lives in a backyard shack next door with his wife and their three-month-old daughter.
The girl told her mother that the man had shown her a pair of scissors and threatened to stab her if she made a noise before forcing himself on her.
Her 25-year-old father, out of anger, tried to attack the alleged perpetrator when he confronted him but was stopped by other neighbours.
"Even now I feel like I shouldn't have reported this to the police and found another way of dealing with it. That man ruined my daughter's life and I doubt she'll be the same ever again," the father said.
"When police arrested the suspect, they also removed some of his sheets from his room, which had my daughter's blood ... I saw all of that."
Mamelodi East police spokesperson Johannes Maheso said they have arrested a 26-year-old suspect for rape on Saturday.
"The suspect will be appearing in the Mamelodi magistrate's court on Monday [today]," Maheso said.