Shocking details behind Dros rape revealed

Waiters and eyewitnesses spoke to Rapport recently, detailing the events of that fateful day when a 20-year-old man allegedly raped a six-year-old girl in the bathrooms at a Dros restaurant in Silverton, Pretoria.

This is how they recalled that Saturday afternoon to Rapport.

The suspect was reportedly initially sat at Dros Watermeyer’s bar area when he was later joined by an older man. Together, they drank R700 worth of beer and shooters. It is also reported that the suspect and the rape victim’s mother were regular visitors of the establishment.

Eyewitnesses and three waiters say the alleged rapist went to the bathroom twice that afternoon. They allege that he took one route to go to the bathroom, but walked past the play area on his way back to the bar.

Half an hour after his first bathroom visit, he went again. Shortly after his second bathroom break, the victim’s mother realised that her child was no longer where she left her in the play area. When she asked the child minder in the play area, she said that her child had gone to the bathroom.

A waiter explained that the women’s bathroom has three cubicles, one of which was out of order. The frantic mother searched for her child in the two working cubicles, but could not find her.

Restaurant personnel then stepped in to help her find her child. One of the waitresses spotted feet under the cubicle that was out of order. When the waitress touched the door, she reportedly saw the child crying and calling out to her mother.

The mother and four waitresses tried to pry the door open. When the door began to open, the suspect allegedly used his belt to attack the ladies. He then fled past them towards the men’s bathroom and locked himself in a cubicle, which customers and personnel later broke open.

Once inside the cubicle, they were confronted with the beginning of what would be a horrific discovery. They report how the child’s underwear, shorts, and the suspect’s shirt were found inside the toilet. It is presumed that he tried to flush the evidence of the rape down the toilet. His shirt was allegedly soaked in the little girl’s blood.

In anger, the customers assaulted him until security guards intervened.

As seen in a video that emerged earlier this week, the man was captured hurling insults and excuses after being found out. He claimed that he was simply helping the little girl after she had gone to the toilet. However, it must be noted that he was naked in the video, clutching his genitals, with blood pouring down his shoulders and chest.

Please note that the video below is likely to upset sensitive viewers, and contains strong language. 

After the tense confrontation, he was escorted off the premises in an ambulance. In the meantime, the older man who the suspect was seen drinking with earlier had already settled their bill.

Friends and colleagues of the alleged rapist are shocked, portraying him as someone who stood up for young people, and never bullied anyone.

He also got engaged to a young woman earlier this year, but a friend of the couple told Rapport that, in all likelihood, the engagement has since been called off. The young woman is also reportedly six months pregnant with their first child.

The rape suspect was previously employed at a cellphone shop in Pretoria, and was well liked by colleagues and customers.

He appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s court on Tuesday, on charges of rape and the possession of illegal substances.

The Citizen has opted not to name the alleged rapist due to antiquated laws we do not agree with. Although his identity has been made public by various news agencies and social media platforms, we have been advised to omit his name.

The legal reasoning behind this is that the suspect has not yet pleaded to the charges against him, according to Section 154 (2B) of the Criminal Procedure Act, which reads:

(b) No person shall at any stage before the appearance of an accused in a court upon any charge referred to in section 153(3) or at any stage after such appearance but before the accused has pleaded to the charge, publish in any manner whatever any information relating to the charge in question.

This article appeared first in Rapport and Netwerk24. Read the original article here. 

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