Teenage girl faces possible criminal charges

A 15-year-old girl faces possible charges after falsely accusing a man of raping her.

She went to the Vodacom Winter Show with a group of friends, but stayed behind when they went home.

It is speculated she met the alleged rapist and went with him to fetch a friend.

However, the man left her at his house and went to Madadeni without her. Along the way, his car apparently ran out of petrol and he was unable to return to his house and the girl.

When he returned home the following day, he found the girl was still at his home and she had used his hair clippers to cut her hair.

Captain Shooz Magudulela, police spokesperson, said the teenager used the man’s cellphone to send a text message to her family to say that she had been kidnapped, but the man stopped the message from going through.

“She attempted to entice him to extort money from her father, but he had refused to do so. He took her and left her near the hospital,” Captain Magudulela explained.

While this was happening, the girl’s mother was frantically searching for her. She received a ‘please call me’ message from an unknown number, and when she called it, she was told her daughter was at Madadeni Provincial Hospital.

At the hospital, the girl told her mother she had lost her cellphone at the show and an unknown woman had offered to help her. She claimed she was allegedly led to a vehicle outside the show grounds where several men overpowered her, hit her over the head and drugged her before loading her in their vehicle.

She told her mother she had woken up in an unknown house the following day in a pool of her own blood and that her hair had been cut.

The Newcastle Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit investigated the matter and it was initially speculated a trafficking syndicate might have been involved.

Through police investigations, the man the girl had met was traced and questioned.

“The suspect did not have sexual intercourse with her at all,” Captain Magudulela said.

After further police questioning, the girl revealed the truth, stating she had never expected the police to solve this case and was actually hoping they wouldn’t.

Her statement was obtained and a decision will now be made whether to institute criminal proceedings against her for making a false statement under oath, knowing it to be false and for defeating the ends of justice.

“We are awaiting the decision,” said Captain Magudulela.

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