Wednesday 26th September, 2018
While the country is
known for its high rates of sexual assault, the nature of the two cases that
took place this week have proven particularly appalling.
I
Accra,
Sept.26-(DPA/GNA) – Reports of separate incidents involving a 6-year-old girl
raped in a restaurant bathroom and a teenager violated in hospital by a fake
doctor shortly after giving birth have sent shockwaves throughout South Africa.
While the country is
known for its high rates of sexual assault, the nature of the two cases that
took place this week have proven particularly appalling.
In the first incident,
on Saturday, a child was allegedly raped in a restaurant bathroom in the
capital Pretoria while her mother was right outside in the dining area, local
media reported Wednesday.
Police have arrested a
20-year-old man over the incident, News24 reported, and he has been charged
with rape.
In Eastern Cape
province on Monday, a 17-year-old was raped in hospital, just hours after
giving birth, by a man posing as a doctor, The Sowetan newspaper reported
Wednesday.
A suspect has also
been arrested in that case, according to the paper.
The two stories were
carried by most media, and popular radio talk show host Eusebius McKaiser
railed against the situation in South Africa on his show and on social media,
saying on Facebook that “South Africa is no country for children.”
Police statistics
released earlier this month showed that rape was up 0.5 per cent, with 40,035
cases recorded in the last year compared to 39,828 over the previous year.
GNA