S.Africa: 7 year-old girl raped & killed in season of abuse

[Hail Columbia]

http://www.africancrisis.co.za/Article.php?ID=21247&

While many families enjoyed a peaceful festive season, the period was traumatic for hundreds of rape and abuse victims.

The worst case was that of a seven-year-old girl who was raped and stabbed to death. A man who allegedly apologised to her family was then beaten to death by members of the local community.

Child advocacy group Childline said it was still tallying calls to its helpline, but it appeared that the group had fielded between 90 000 and 100 000 calls from children across the country

Jackie Branfield, of the Bobbi Bear Foundation, said it had dealt with close to 40 cases of domestic violence over the past four weeks. It had also assisted four children, aged between four and 13, who had been raped.

These included the rape and killing of a seven-year-old.

Bobbi Bear Child Safety Officer Mabel Maphumulo said the girl, who lived at Engonyameni, just outside Umlazi, went missing early in December.

"The child's grandmother sent her to the shop, but when she never returned her family started looking for her."

She was found in a cattle dip nearby. She had been raped and stabbed a number of times.

The case was confirmed by police spokesperson Danelia Veldhuizen. She said according to their records the attacker was killed after he apparently approached the family about what he had done.

"According to our reports the man went to the family on an evening when they were holding a vigil for the child. He apparently went to apologise to them for what happened to the child. So we don't have a confession on record, but a report from the family that he said sorry for raping and killing the child," she said.

Beaten to death

On the day the little girl was buried a group, believed to be from the local community, took the man to the child's graveside and beat him to death.

Police are investigating.

Childline's Joan Van Niekerk said calls over the festive season always increased by about 25% owing to increased drinking and lack of parental care.

"Normally over the festive season we have anything between 60 000 and 70 000 calls. But this year we had a toll-free line with Telkom and Vodacom, so we anticipate more. We are likely to have had between 90 000 and 100 000 calls this year.

"We would have liked to see more policing on these matters, but generally police seem to be focusing on tourism over the festive season. I had one person who spoke of battling with a domestic abuse case and calling the police five times, yet they still never came."

A provincial police spokesperson, Supt Vincent Mdunge, said policing had been in creased over the festive season, in all crime priority areas. There were no major hikes in reported domestic violence and abuse.

"There were no drastic increases reported in domestic violence and rapes. In fact, crime over the festive season decreased drastically."

Lifeline co-ordinators in Pietermaritzburg and Durban, who also man a rape crisis line, said they had between 10 and 20 cases in Pietermaritzburg and between 20 and 30 in Durban.

Spokesperson Bruna Gillham said they expected more calls in the weeks ahead.

"We find often that rapes occur when people are away on holiday and they contact us when they get back home."

[Ambiorix]

http://www.africancrisis.co.za/Article.php?ID=21247&

While many families enjoyed a peaceful festive season, the period was traumatic for hundreds of rape and abuse victims.

The worst case was that of a seven-year-old girl who was raped and stabbed to death. A man who allegedly apologised to her family was then beaten to death by members of the local community.

Child advocacy group Childline said it was still tallying calls to its helpline, but it appeared that the group had fielded between 90 000 and 100 000 calls from children across the country

Jackie Branfield, of the Bobbi Bear Foundation, said it had dealt with close to 40 cases of domestic violence over the past four weeks. It had also assisted four children, aged between four and 13, who had been raped.

These included the rape and killing of a seven-year-old.

Bobbi Bear Child Safety Officer Mabel Maphumulo said the girl, who lived at Engonyameni, just outside Umlazi, went missing early in December.

"The child's grandmother sent her to the shop, but when she never returned her family started looking for her."

She was found in a cattle dip nearby. She had been raped and stabbed a number of times.

The case was confirmed by police spokesperson Danelia Veldhuizen. She said according to their records the attacker was killed after he apparently approached the family about what he had done.

"According to our reports the man went to the family on an evening when they were holding a vigil for the child. He apparently went to apologise to them for what happened to the child. So we don't have a confession on record, but a report from the family that he said sorry for raping and killing the child," she said.

Beaten to death

On the day the little girl was buried a group, believed to be from the local community, took the man to the child's graveside and beat him to death.

Police are investigating.

Childline's Joan Van Niekerk said calls over the festive season always increased by about 25% owing to increased drinking and lack of parental care.

"Normally over the festive season we have anything between 60 000 and 70 000 calls. But this year we had a toll-free line with Telkom and Vodacom, so we anticipate more. We are likely to have had between 90 000 and 100 000 calls this year.

"We would have liked to see more policing on these matters, but generally police seem to be focusing on tourism over the festive season. I had one person who spoke of battling with a domestic abuse case and calling the police five times, yet they still never came."

A provincial police spokesperson, Supt Vincent Mdunge, said policing had been in creased over the festive season, in all crime priority areas. There were no major hikes in reported domestic violence and abuse.

"There were no drastic increases reported in domestic violence and rapes. In fact, crime over the festive season decreased drastically."

Lifeline co-ordinators in Pietermaritzburg and Durban, who also man a rape crisis line, said they had between 10 and 20 cases in Pietermaritzburg and between 20 and 30 in Durban.

Spokesperson Bruna Gillham said they expected more calls in the weeks ahead.

"We find often that rapes occur when people are away on holiday and they contact us when they get back home."

How can someone do this ??