Teen’s ordeal in the system
Dad slams nurse who made them beg for a rape examination
A young girl had to spend two days without taking a bath to file a rape complaint.
The teen, 16, from Machibini village near Komani was told by the rape crisis centre in Komani hospital to go home on Monday and come back on Tuesday for an assessment.
She said she was raped in her village on Sunday night.
She went home and reported the incident, and the family went to Ilinge police station to open the case on Monday.
The teen’s father, who is a police officer, said they arrived at the Komani Victim Support Centre at 2pm on Monday and were told that the nurse had to attend to another case.
“After 30 minutes of waiting, the nurse arrived and told us to go home. She said she could not attend us as she was on her way home,” he said.
He said that without complaining they went back to the Ilinge police station to report what had happened at the crisis centre.
“The following day, we arrived at 8am and the nurse told us she will not help us because we reported her and she was on leave.
“After spending time begging, she finally helped, us claiming that she was doing it as a favour to the victim,” he said.
He said his daughter did not wash for two days after being raped.
“If I was not a police officer, I would have allowed her to wash and wipe away the evidence,” he said.
He said he reported the behaviour of the nurse to the department of health and to the police.
“I am avoiding a situation where people will give up on the law because of the treatment they received from the centre. I still can’t understand why there was no other nurse to help us,” he said.
“People must not wash their bodies after they had been raped, as their bodies are a crime scene. After a case is reported the victims are sent to a doctor, who will do an examination looking for semen, bloodstains, fingerprints and other evidence,” the father added.
Provincial health spokesperson Lwandile Sicwetsha defended the nurse.
He said the family were made aware that the nurse who specialises in rape cases was attending to another rape and could not abandon another victim to attend to them.
“They family opted to return on another day,” he said.
Komani police spokesperson captain Namhla Mdleleni said Ilinge police had arrested an 18year-old suspect who was facing a charge of rape.
“The suspect allegedly called the victim and forced her to his place where he raped her,” she said.
Mdleleni said the suspect appeared at the Ezibeleni magistrate’s court on Thursday.