Police record five rape cases in one night
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday April 4, 2017 18:03
Five rape cases were reported over the weekend in villages surrounding Gaborone. In an interview with Mmegi, the Officer Commanding (OC), senior superintendent Counsel Moyo said they were concerned with the increasing number of rape cases in his policing area.
Moyo said in the early morning of Sunday they received a report of rape from a 30-year-old woman of Kopong village who was attacked and raped by an unknown man when walking home from a bar.
“The woman was walking alone from the bar around 12 midnight when she met the culprit who attacked and raped her. Investigations on the matter are still ongoing and the culprit is still on the run,” Moyo said.
Still on Sunday, Moyo said they received a report from S’Modern ward in Mogoditshane in which a 32-year-old woman was attacked and raped by a 21-year-old man.
He said the complainant was walking alone from the bar when she met the suspect who threatened her with something sharp and dragged her to the bush and raped her.
“The incident occurred on Sunday around 8pm in the evening and luckily in this matter we managed to arrest the suspect who is currently in police custody helping us with investigations,” Moyo said.
Moyo said still on Sunday around 3am they received a rape report from Mmopane village, Block One in which a woman aged between 20 and 25 was attacked by a man when walking home from the bar.
He said the unknown suspect attacked the complainant and stabbed her with a sharp object on the thigh before raping her.
“The complainant said she got lost when walking alone home from the bar when she was attacked by an unknown suspect. Investigations on the matter are still ongoing to arrest the unknown culprit,” Moyo said.
He said in another incident, still in the early morning of Sunday a 29-year-old woman of Gabane village was attacked and raped when walking home from the bar with a male friend.
“Whilst on the way the duo was attacked and beaten by an unknown man. The complainant said her male friend ran away leaving her behind and she was raped,” Moyo said.
In another matter still on Sunday around 4am a woman was attacked and raped by a man at a party in the outskirts of Mmopane village.
“The duo spent the entire night together in a party but later went a distance from the crowd where the male friend decided to rape her. Investigations on the matter are still ongoing to arrest the culprit. The complainant knows the culprit hence confident that we will soon arrest him,” he said.
Moyo said women are vulnerable therefore they should not walk alone at night especially under the influence of alcohol.
“In all of these cases but one, women were attacked whilst walking alone from bars, which shows that by walking alone at night they expose themselves to danger,” Moyo said, urging women to be cautious at night.