Police caution women: �be wary of strangers�
Bonte Seepi | Wednesday October 26, 2016 17:20
Mahalapye Police station commander, superintendent Isaac Mamadi told Mmegi that incidents of rape have increased at an alarming rate in his area of jurisdiction. He said two such cases were registered over the last weekend alone, as a result of women socialising with strangers.
Mamadi said the first incident happened on Saturday night at around 11 pm in Mahalapye.
“We are investigating a case in which a 23-year-old woman was raped by a stranger after they spent the whole day together. According to the victim, she met the suspect on Saturday during the day. They spent the day together and even drove to Machaneng village together. She told the police that during all this time they spent together, the man was proposing love from her,” Mamadi explained.
The station commander added that the alleged victim had refused the offer to date the suspect, and was then dragged to a nearby abandoned house where she was raped. Mamadi said the suspect is still on the run.
In another incident, Mamadi said that they are investigating a case in which a 29-year-old man allegedly raped a BOCODOL student aged 17 after they met at a drinking spot. Mamadi said that the two met at a bar through a friend and the man bought the alleged victim some drinks and later proposed the idea of the dating.
“The victim revealed that when she refused to date the man, he dragged her to his house in Xhosa 1 and raped her. Fortunately, the man was drunk hence after raping the victim he fell asleep and the woman managed to escape to report the case to the police. We arrested the suspect the same night at his homestead,” said the station commander.
The police boss has said that the suspect is still in custody and appeared at the magistrate’s court yesterday morning.
He expressed concern over the rape cases in his area saying since October they have registered six such cases, most of them involving women socialising with strangers. “People must refrain from teaming up with unfamiliar persons because such contributes to rape. When a man proposes love to a woman and the woman does not resist that gives the man hope and once the woman says an emphatic no, men opt for wrong actions such as rape. Rape is a concern and people must know that rape on its own is assault, therefore men should respect women,” he said.