With gruesome crimes perpetrated against women across South Africa in the public spotlight, a 22-year-old pregnant woman has been brutally gang-raped in Joburg's inner city, while three Soweto women were murdered after apparently being raped.
The crimes took place during the past few days.
The pregnant woman was kidnapped and gang-raped while on her way home from work at a nightclub early on Monday.
The woman’s male colleague told The Star they finished work at 4am and were attacked on Lilian Ngoyi (formerly Bree) Street.
Their names have been withheld to protect the woman's identity.
“We were walking on Bree Street when one guy grabbed her,” the co-worker said. “I told him to stop what he was doing and we ended up in a fight."
"From there, all I saw were a bunch of armed men surrounding me. They started hitting me, until I ran to get help from a woman who sells newspapers around the corner,” said the 23-year-old bartender.
Some of the assailants proceeded to assault him, while the others stripped his female colleague.
The woman was then dragged into a dilapidated block of flats nicknamed Mnyama Ndawo, meaning "dark place", he said.
“When the police arrived, we heard screaming from the building, which has no electricity. When we found her, there were men standing in a queue waiting to have sex with her,” said the traumatised man.
Police spokesperson Captain Xoli Mbele said 11 suspects were arrested and were expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on charges of kidnapping and rape. The woman is in Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital, where she is receiving counselling.
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