EVANDER – A 20-year-old woman was allegedly asked to drop her rape case in exchange for money by the police and the families of the two men who had raped her.
She said she was raped by the men on Wednesday, 7 December.
One of the men befriended her and asked her to join them at a party.
He picked her up from her house and on their arrival, he introduced her to his friend who was sitting with two other young women.
They both had some drinks, smoked and enjoyed themselves until the victim asked to be taken home.
The man and his friend offered to take her home, but stopped at an unknown home where her friend said he wanted to get something.
They went into the house where the woman said she was raped the whole night.
She was released and when she arrived at her house, she was afraid to phone her mother who was away on vacation, but decided not to bath to preserve any evidence.
The young woman said the other reason for not telling her mother was because her mother is diabetic and she did not know how she would react when she gets the news.
She only managed to report the case to the police on 9 December.
At the Evander Police Station, she showed an officer a picture that she had retrieved from the Whatsapp profile of one of the alleged rapists.
The officer knew one of the men and immediately contact the suspects and told them to hand themselves over.
On their arrival, the two men apologised and asked the woman to forgive them and not to open a rape case.
She said the police officer tried to convince her to forgive them and to drop the charges.
“The officer called the brother of one of the suspects and the mother of the other suspect was also there.
“The officer wanted to know how much I wanted, referring to money, and I said I did not know since he was the one who was talking about money.
“He said he would leave me to talk to the family and went outside,” said the woman.
She said the families offered to pay her R3 000 and R1 500.
“I told them even if they offered to pay me R15 000, it will not be enough to restore what they did to me and the pain they had put me through,” said the woman.
She refused to drop the charges and was later visited by the families of the suspects at her home who pressured her into dropping the charges.
They arrived with a police car, a small sedan and another unmarked car.
The woman said after several attempts by the families who urged her to drop the charges and also realising that she was not getting any support from the police, she decided to drop the case.
However, she felt guilty and decided to commit suicide.
“I sent the police officer a message that read: ‘Thank you for showing me that there is no justice in this world and I wish you the best in everything you do. Tell them to use the money to buy me a coffin for my funeral’.” said the woman.
She tried to overdose on pills, but they only made her dizzy.
The police officer panicked and went to her house where he found her lying with empty bottles of pills next to her.
She woke up when the paramedics attended to her.
The woman’s mother arrived and was not happy that the charges were dropped.
Evander Police’s spokesman, Sgt Sibusiso Mbuli, said a case of rape was again opened and the two suspects were arrested.
He also said the case has been moved to the Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offenses Unit.
