Action Society nabs rapist that was on the run in Stellenbosch

Action Society said it tracked down and helped arrest a man accused of raping a 19-year-old girl in Wellington, in the Western Cape.

Action Society said after conducting its own investigations it managed to track down a photographer that had allegedly lured and raped an aspiring model about a year ago. The rape allegedly happened during a photoshoot in Stellenbosch.

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The organisation said that the suspect had just started a new job in February at a well-known car dealership when he was identified and tracked down.

Action Society’s Western Cape coordinator Kaylynn Palm said: “Once we found him, we contacted the police who arrested him.”

Photoshoot

The victim had contacted the photographer more than two years ago, telling him that she wanted to use his services for a photoshoot as she was working to grow her portfolio as an aspiring model.

The victim told Action Society that the photographer then told her he did not take pictures of underaged girls. Then, when she was 19 years old, the photographer contacted her out of the blue.

She said that he told her about a modelling opportunity. “He told me about this competition. He said it would cost me R300 for the pictures, and I was okay with that. I was excited about it,” she said.

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The young woman explained that on the day of the photoshoot, she drove with the man to the location where he would take the photographs.

“Everything seemed normal on our way to the place where the pictures were to be taken. He then parked in an isolated spot where cars were not passing. He gave me some tequila. Then, after some time, he forced himself on me and raped me,” she said.

She reported the incident at the police station but the suspect could not be found.

Action Society reported that the suspect was believed to have fled to Ladysmith, and then to Stellenbosch.

*Compiled by Devina Haripersad