MEMBERS of the Inanda Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit arrested a 29-year-old suspect for five cases of rape in the early hours of Saturday morning, 15 May 2020.
Five cases of rape with the similar modus operandi had been reported to police between June 2019 to April 2020.
The victims alleged that they had met an individual on Facebook who had promised them a job at a tuck-shop.
Once the woman showed interest in the vacancy, the suspect would then direct them to take a taxi to Durban and from Durban to Inanda.
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The suspect mainly targeted women who were not from Durban.
Once the woman indicated she had arrived, he would fetch them and pretend to take them to where they would be employed.
He would take them on a route which cut through a river where he would allegedly turn on them and rape them.
He also allegedly robbed them of their cellphones and money.
Some victims alleged they were contacted by a woman who was looking for a nanny for her child.
On the day they were meant to meet her, she would inform them that a man would collect them from where the taxi had dropped them off. Upon arrival the man would take them through the same route and allegedly rape them at knife point.
The suspect used the cover of darkness effectively, and insisted that the victims board the taxi late so that he would be able to fetch them when it was dark.
Inanda FCS detectives initiated an investigation and they were immediately confronted with the challenge that the victims did not know their assailant and could not provide a description of him. He also constantly changed his Facebook accounts which made identifying him a challenge for the detectives.
The other conundrum faced by the investigators was that because the victims were not familiar with the area they could not identify where he had taken them.
In their quest and following information the detectives travelled to Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape and were able to establish the identity of the suspect. On Saturday morning at about 00h50 the suspect was finally cornered in a house at Ngoqokazi hiding inside a drum. He was arrested, charged with five counts of rape.
Investigations are still ongoing and there is a possibility that he could be linked to more rape cases.
Women who were violated under similar circumstances as above, and did not report to the police, are urged to come forward and do so.
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