The two women whose partners were bound and drowned in front of them went in search of help at a nearby house, crying and screaming at a community member’s gate, The New Age reported on Monday.
A man, who did not want to be named, told the daily newspaper he heard people screaming for help shortly after 19:00 while he was watching TV.
He went out and saw the head of one of the men sinking. He called the police, but they took a while to arrive at the scene. He then saw the two women crying and screaming.
“I opened the gate for them and it took my wife and I some time to calm them down so they could explain to us what happened,” he said.
The women said they were friends and had come to Rhodes Park in Kensington, Johannesburg for a picnic earlier in the day. They noticed the men who later attacked them, but never suspected they could be criminals.
“She said when they were about to leave, the 12 men blocked them and they raped her in front of her husband on the park’s pavement and took their cellphones and wallets,” the man said.
Gauteng police earlier told News24 one of the woman managed to escape. Both their partners were bound and thrown into the dam where they drowned.
The Star newspaper reported that one of the couples were devout members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
It said one of the men who drowned was a teacher at a school in Westbury. The Sowetan said he was originally from the Eastern Cape.
The two men were aged 25 and 32.
Source – News24
South Africa Today – South Africa News
