Share

Bloemfontein girl, 13, raped by 'several' as mother watches, court hears

Bloemfontein - "Then my dad and mom pray to the devil and their eyes go black," a slim 13-year-old girl from Bloemfontein said via CCTV, as she testified against her parents in the Free State High Court. 

While she testified that several men had raped her "one after the other", her father, 44, and mother, 36, sat next to one another in the dock, their eyes glued to the TV, Netwerk24 reported.

The father wiped over his eyes a few times, as though he had become teary.

"My mother laughed at me. I don’t know why," she testified, claiming that her mother had been present throughout the assaults.

"If I asked her to help me, she said I was a bitch. I deserve it," the tearful teen said.

Responding to a question from Advocate Ena Liebenberg, for the State, she responded: "My dad knew; He took videos."

At first, they stayed in a "brick house" in Bloemfontein. She couldn't remember how many "men" had raped her there, "but there were several".

It happened in her parents' bedroom. "If I didn’t want to pull down my panties, then my mom would hit me. The men said if I didn't want to, they would kill me."

"They first had sex with my mother. I had to watch. If I looked away, they hit me."

'There were demons'

"Then they raped me, one after the other."

"I tried pushing them away, but couldn't," the slender girl testified.

Asked about her parents' satanic activities, she said: "Dad and mom were not Christians. They worshipped the devil."

"They made circles on the ground and prayed inside them. They spoke in strange languages. There were demons."

Then they would hit her and her brother.

"They hit me and my brother several times. I sometimes jumped in to try to help him, but they were too strong."

Testifying about their home on a Bloemspruit smallholding outside Bloemfontein, she said the house had always been neat and clean while her grandparents had still been living there. She and her grandmother had seen to it.

After her grandparents moved away, she couldn't keep it up with the cleaning.

"My mother did nothing to tidy it up. She sometimes did washing. For the rest, we had to wear dirty clothes."

Plead not guilty

Asked about the fact that neither she nor her brother had attended school, she answered that her "mom and dad said there wasn't money for school [fees]. They used it for drugs and liquor". 

The girl was 11 and her brother 9 when they were removed from their parents' care in Bloemspruit in 2015.

Acting Judge President Cagney Musi is presiding in the case, in which the couple face 13 charges relating to the alleged incidents between 2012 and 2015. They have pleaded not guilty.

The couple insisted that Advocate Pieter Nel withdraw as their legal representative, which he did on Thursday. 


We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Do you think corruption-accused National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula will survive a motion of no confidence against her?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
No, her days are numbered
41% - 502 votes
Yes, the ANC caucus will protect her
59% - 717 votes
Vote
Rand - Dollar
18.90
+0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.86
+0.2%
Rand - Euro
20.37
+0.3%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.31
+0.2%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE