A 26-year-old woman accused of sexually assaulting a mentally challenged Soweto boy has been granted R1 000 bail.
|||A 26-year-old woman accused of sexually assaulting a mentally challenged Soweto boy was granted R1 000 bail after a brief appearance in the Protea Magistrate’s court on Monday.
Her co-accused, a teenage girl, appeared separately in the children’s court. The girl, a minor, was released into her parents’ custody.
During proceedings, State prosecutor Musa Khubayi, in opposing bail, pleaded with magistrate Herman Badenhorst to remand the woman.
Khubayi asked that while she was in custody, psychiatric evaluation of the alleged victim’s mental status be conducted. Defence lawyer Freddie Silamulele asked that the accused be released as she had no criminal record.
The public gallery in Court 7 was packed with what appeared to be mostly supporters of the accused. They later escorted her out of the courtroom, covering her face to conceal her identity.
According to police spokesman Kay Makhubela, the 26-year-old accused is charged with sexual assault, while her co-accused is appearing on charges of rape.
It is alleged the 17-year-old boy was raped by a teenage girl and her adult sister.
The victim said he was raped on Sunday last week at the house of his alleged assailants, who live three streets from his home in White City, Soweto.
The boy’s grandmother, who cannot be named to protect his identity, said she was angry as it was clear that the two accused had taken advantage of the boy because of his condition.
The family learnt of the incident when the boy told them about it the same day. According to the grandmother, the woman and her sister had tried earlier to rape the teenager and his friend, who is also 17.
They allegedly invited the boys into their home, and once inside, gave them wine.
The teenage girl’s elder sister, aged 26, then asked the boy’s friend to show them his genitals, the victim told his grandmother. But the teen stopped his friend and the boys left.
Later one of the sisters met the boy at the gate at her house, took him inside and locked the door.
“She asked him if he had a condom. He said ‘no’,” the alleged victim’s grandmother said. “He said she stripped his clothes off and told him to lie face up. She then got on top of him and told him they were making a baby.”
Once the teenage girl had finished raping the boy, the grandmother alleged, she apparently told him that if he reported the incident to the police, she would say that the sex was consensual.
The boy told his granny what had happened when he got home. The grandmother went to the boy’s friend, who confirmed his version of events. The boy’s relatives had a meeting with the alleged perpetrators’ families to try to resolve the matter, but when this failed, they opened a sexual assault case.
The accused will appear again on May 2. - Pretoria News