An 18-year-old girl said she thought she would never leave a “small, dysfunctional” room in Bez Valley alive.
*Charmain Grand was abducted, stabbed and raped for three days in that room from Saturday, September 12, shortly after 7pm.
She was released by her abductor on Monday, September 14, shortly after 3am.
Charmain is now staying with her mother in Germiston. She previously resided in Bez Valley and attends school in the same area.
The Jeppe SAPS communications officer, Warrant Officer Richard Munyai, has since confirmed that a case of rape and kidnapping is being investigated.
As she was reliving the three day ordeal, while relating her story to the EXPRESS, tears were rolling down her face.
The grade 11 pupil said the tribulations started at around 7.30pm when she arrived at her friend’s gate on 10th Avenue.
“As I was at the small gate, I noticed that there was a man at the main gate. I also noticed that his face looked familiar. I asked him what he was doing there. He came closer. He told me that I thought I am clever. I would get what I deserve. He had a big knife in his hand. He grabbed me and he strangled me. I could not scream or do anything because he strangled me so hard. I think I passed out,” said Charmain.
She met the man a few weeks ago on her way from school. She said he tried to pursue her, however she told him she was not interested in a relationship.
“He is not the type of man I will date. He does not have a friendly face. That was the first and last time I saw him until September 12, when my weekend of agony started,” she said.
“When I woke up, I was in a room with a small mattress and clothes on the floor. I had my clothes on but my pants were wet. I had urinated on myself. I was scared because I did not know where I was.”
She said her abductor was also in the room and he had a knife in his hand.
“I think he was watching me all the time – waiting for me to wake up,” she said.
She said she was trying to make sense of what was happening when he told her to take off her pants.
“He laughed at me and said, ‘What kind of 18-year-old pees on herself? I will not sleep with an 18-year-old who pees herself.’ He laughed again,” she said.
Charmain said she resisted taking off her pants, as instructed, and that is when the man stabbed her in her left arm.
“That is when I realised this guy would kill me if I do not do as he says. I was scared. I did what he said. I did not think this would happen to me. I normally see it in the movies,” said Charmain.
She said on the same night, he told her he was giving her 30 seconds to run for her life.
“I put on my clothes. I did not put on my shoes. I just ran. I jumped the wall and I ran. I don’t know how fast he ran but we met at the corner. He laughed at me. A car drove past. I tried to stop it but it just drove off. He laughed at me again. That is when he stabbed me in my back and my arms again,” said Charmain.
When she pleaded with him and asked him why he was doing what he was doing, he ordered her to go back to the room again where he would tell her why.
When they entered the room for the second time, he washed her feet.
“He said he did not like girls with dirty feet,” said Charmain.
“Sometimes, when I cried, he would lick my tears from my face. Sometimes he would tell me that if I make a noise he would kill me,” she said. The man told Charmain he loved her.
“He said if I had loved him from the first time we had met, nothing like this would have happened. He would also ask if I was in pain and whether I wanted him to end it? I knew ending the pain meant ending my life. I did not want to die. I did not want to die and nobody knew where I was,” she said.
Charmain said he told her that he knew everything about her. He had paid people to give him information about her.
On the Sunday, her abductor told Charmain he would release her at 8pm if she finished all the food he gave her to eat.
“I could not swallow anything. My throat was raw. I was hurting. He then said he would set an alarm for 3am. He said he wanted me to leave when nobody would see that I was there. He said if I go to the police he would come for my whole family and kill them all,” she said.
At 3am when the alarm went off, he woke her up.
“I put my clothes on. He opened the gate like I was just visiting. I could not go anywhere at that time. I was numb with fear – I just sat outside the gate. He coming outside and checking on me. When the sun rose I went to my friend’s house,” said Charmain.
The EXPRESS is in possession of Whatsapp messages that Charmain said was sent by her abductor.
In those messages, he apologised for what he did. In later messages, he claims to have no knowledge of Charmain’s ordeal. Another message states his soul will haunt Charmain until they meet in death.
*Charmain Grand is not her real name
WATCH: Teen rape victim tells of horrific three day ordeal
