RAPED
ASMIYA Mohammed* can’t sleep. The five-year-old is scared that the man who raped her will come back to kill her.
“She’s very quiet and withdrawn,” says her aunt, Fatimah*. “She barely says a word. Sometimes she gazes into the distance and says: ‘Mommy, please don’t let this guy kill me’.”
Since she was attacked on Monday, Tasmiya is back in nappies. “She can’t hold her stools. That’s how much she has regressed.”
On Sunday, she celebrated her fifth birthday. A day later, she was abducted outside of her grandmother’s home in Lenasia, while playing with friends.
A man in a “suspicious” white vehicle had lured the child into his car with a lollipop.
“By the time I rushed outside, the car had long gone. I ran down the street with my grandson in the hope I would see the car, but my granddaughter was long gone,” says her grandmother, Khatija*.
The child’s alleged rapist then returned her home after two hours. “We’re still in complete shock,” says Fatimah.
“She was playing and the next minute she was gone.”
The pre-schooled has been in and out of hospital this week – she struggles to walk because of the extent of her horrific injuries.
But what outrages the Mohammed family is that Tasmiya’s alleged rapist is still roaming the streets.
Local police had taken in a man for questioning on Monday night, after the local community watch had identified him.
But the police initially had to let him go because of a lack of evidence. “It was the community watch who alerted the police to a suspect and only then did the police act on it,” says Fatimah, frustrated.
The police did not inform Tasmiya’s family that they required a J88 for m to open up a docket against the alleged perpetrator. A J88 for m is a legal document that indicates injuries.
“We’ve never gone through something like this so we didn’t know the procedure at all. After
Tgoing to the police station we rushed her (Tasmiya) to the hospital to get an examination done.” A police officer drove the family to the hospital. “After the examination, we asked the officer specifically if we need to take anything back to the police station and we were told no, that they would find everything here at the hospital.
“Then, when we got back to the police station later that evening we were told they couldn’t open a docket for us because there was no J88 form, and so they had to let the man go.”
The man was taken into custody once again on Tuesday, after he had agreed to do a DNA test, but police were unable to do a test as they did not have any kits.
“We were informed the man had allegedly done a DNA test on Wednesday, but we have no idea if he actually did.”
The police infor med the family that it would take over 100 days for the DNA results to be released. There was nothing they could do till then.
“They didn’t even take a statement from her. She’s just five years old, how long is she going to be able to remember all of this?” asked Fatimah.
She claimed that after the rape, the police didn’t even bother looking for any evidence.
“The next day no DNA was taken, the car wasn’t searched or anything. This girl has lovely golden hair that could have fallen out in the car, but the police didn’t bother searching the car at all. We haven’t even seen anyone come to the area to investigate.
“Imagine this five-year-old girl, walking like a duck, into the police station, and they tell her there is nothing they can do for her. It’s heartbreaking.
“The community is very angry,” says Fatimah. “They wanted to go kill him on Monday night.
“We had to stop them. We don’t want anyone to hurt him because we want proper justice for our little girl.”
Lenasia police spokesperson Captain Hector Netshivhodza confirmed a man was taken in for questioning.
“There haven’t been any arrests so far. A man was taken in for questioning but that’s all. Investigations are continuing.”
*Not their real names