On April 5, a 44-year-old mother in a village in Cacadu (formerly Lady Frere) in the Eastern Cape walked into a nightmare – the brutal rape of her daughter. The mother had left her disabled 20-year-old daughter at home for a few hours while she ran some errands, and upon her return, found that the young woman was no longer at home. She went out to look for her and was informed by other villagers that the daughter had been seen walking with a 65-year-old man to his house.

The woman then walked to the man's house to search for her daughter, whereupon she found the man on top of her disabled child. When she asked what was happening, her speech-impaired daughter pointed to her private parts, indicating that she had been penetrated. A medical practitioner would later confirm that the young woman had been sexually assaulted...