On 14 March 2019, police prevented the vigilante murders of two males who were suspected of the rape of a 10 year old girl in Ikamvelihle. This followed after the girl was walking home from school at 15:30. It is alleged that the two suspects forced the girl into their shack in Nomakanjani Village, Ikamvelihle where she was then raped by them.
At about 18:00 the two suspects let the girl go free and fled from their shack. By 19:00 a group of about 200 angry residents mobilised and started searching for the two suspects. They set the suspects shack alight and it was completely destroyed. SAPS were alerted of the rape and the resulting search by community of the two suspects, and also joined in the search.
A race against time in finding the two males before the community does ended when the first 21 year old suspect was found by police. He was found hiding and unharmed in Koliti Street at about 23:45. At 00:30 police also found the badly assaulted second 27 year old suspect in the Motherwell cemetery.
The community members severely assaulted him and they were moments away of murdering him and setting him alight, but they fled the scene when they saw the approaching lights of the police.
The rape case is being investigated by the Motherwell Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit. The 21 year old suspect was arrested and detained for the rape, while the second suspect is being treated for the serious wounds he sustained in the attack.
Name of hospital withheld for security reasons. He will be formally arrested once he is in a condition to be detained and taken to court.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
