Girl, 7, raped by dad as mom looks on

Pietermaritzburg - The memory of being raped repeatedly by her father in front of her mother is what a 7-year-old girl from Haniville, 10km outside Pietermaritzburg, will live with for the rest of her life.

It is alleged that in some instances, the mother would ask the Grade 1 girl from a local school how the sex was.

The child was discovered by the Imbali based Foundation for Victims of Crime, a non-governmental organisation that deals with victims of crime and raises awareness on child and women abuse. Spokesperson Motho Morai said they were doing their routine presentations at the school on Wednesday when a teacher approached them about the child.

Blood on underwear

“An older child at the school, who is a neighbour of the victim, told us that one day she saw blood coming from the victim’s underwear. When she asked her what was wrong, she said her father had slept with her.

“We called the child aside and asked her what happened, in the least painful way we could.”

At first the child was reluctant to talk, but eventually she opened up. “The child said her father has been raping her continuously in front of her mother.”

Morai related the girl’s description of the rapes, saying her father had used a “plastic sock” (condom).

“She was last raped on Tuesday. We have been informed that the victim’s 12-year-old sister has been taken away from the parents by relatives in Durban, after it was discovered that she was also raped by the father,” Morai said.

“We then reported the matter to the police and the father was arrested. The child was admitted to Grey’s Hospital for observation.”

Police confirmed the arrest and said the man, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, will appear in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday. The Witness has learnt that the mother has been at the child’s bedside in hospital since she was admitted.

Mother 'should be arrested too'

The director of Childline KZN, Linda Naidoo, said the mother should be arrested too because she couldn’t protect the child against her father.

“If the mother was present during the rapes then she should be arrested, and not be with the child.

“We don’t want a situation where the mother will influence the child against testifying against her father. We’ve had cases where children fail to testify against their parents.

“When it comes to the emotional well-being of the child, only social workers are in a position to decide who is supposed to be with the victim and who’s not. We will follow this up immediately,” said Naidoo.