DELMAS – The case of the accused, Absolom Cebo Ngwenya, 27, has been postponed to 27 May due to verification of a new address where the accused should stay as they cannot live in the same house with the child.
Ngwenya from Botleng, in Delmas, was arrested on 8 May and remains under police custody for allegedly raping his five-year old daughter.
On 7 May during bath time, the five-year-old informed her grandmother that her private part was painful because her father, Ngwenya, allegedly put his finger [penis] there. The case was then reported the following day at the Delmas police station and the father was arrested immediately.
Ngwenya appeared at the Delmas Magistrate Court on 11 May and his case was postponed for a formal bail application on 20 May. The child has reportedly been removed from her home where she lives with her paternal grandmother and father. The mother reportedly resides in Piet Retief.
Provincial police spokesperson Leonard Hlathi has confirmed that medical tests have been conducted on the child’s body. Whether the suspect has a chance of committing the crime should bail be granted Hlathi responded, “We don’t know but the chances are that he might do it again. This is a court matter which we believe as police that the courts are handling the process well”.
The ANC Chief Whip from Victor Khanye Siponono Mahlangu is calling out the community of Victor Khanye to stop sexual violence against women and children. “The cycle of rape is perpetuated by the stigma around rape and the embarrassment from the victims to be afraid to speak out. You will find that some rapists are victims of rape and they continue the cycle due to bottled issues and anger,” Mahlangu said.
“I am not saying it is an excuse to rape just because you were previously a victim of rape, however, what I have picked is that, generally, men are reluctant to speak about themselves being rape victims because of the stigma or the perception that it is a taboo for a man to be raped but it happens. What happened is that the boys do not have the courage too because they are taught to keep quiet about it which kills them inside and turns them violent,” she added.
“Our society needs to learn to speak out about rape and we need to encourage boy children to speak out if they have been subjected to rape and to seek counselling, and that is another way we are going to curb the cycle of rape because the truth of the matter is that rape happens to both men and women”, she added.
Delmas has recently been flooded with cases of rape including domestic violence cases and like most places, these cases have become, especially prevalent during the lockdown like in other places around the country as police Minister previously reported. The police are currently hunting for three other suspects of rape from Delmas who recently committed these distasteful acts and fled.
