Rape, abduction suspect in court

A DUNOON man arrested on suspicion he had abducted a 16-year-old from the Eastern Cape and forced her into a customary marriage, ukuthwala, is to remain in custody until his next court appearance next week for a bail application.

In the tribal custom of ukuthwala adult males abduct girls to enforce marriage and conjugal rights.

Ayanda Wellem, 47, took to the dock for his first court appearance yesterday wearing a black jersey and a tattered navy blue jacket in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on charges of rape and abduction.

Wellem was arrested on September 20when the teenager from Nqamakwe in the Eastern Cape, persuaded him to take her for treatment after she became ill.

But it was a ruse and she took the opportunity to tell nurses at a local clinic in Dunoon that she was being held against her will and raped by a man she had been forced to marry by ukuthwala.

Prosecutor Cecil Engel told the court the girl was believed to be delivering money to family friends in Queenstown when she was informed of her marriage to Wellem on June 1.

“The girl, who was 16, refused to marry (Wellem). (But) she was then married and on that same night he (Wellem) had sex with her before bringing her to Cape Town,” he said.

Engel said the State alleged she was forced to have sex with (Wellem) several times in two and a half months.

Magistrate Zwelidumile Sogwagwa remanded the case until Monday for the State to investigate information for a bail application and for Wellem to consult his lawyer.