Kimberley - Mystery continues to shroud a trio of women who are believed to have raped a Kimberley man and are thought to be behind the serial rape of men across the country.
Earlier this month, the police in Kagisho appealed to members of the public to assist in identifying the three women, who they suspect drugged and repeatedly raped a 32-year-old man from Galeshewe over a period of three days.
It was reported at the time that on September 25, three women, aged between 20 and 30 years, driving a silver hatchback VW Polo, approached the man’s house in Retswelele and asked him for directions to the CBD.
The man got into their vehicle and they offered him a glass of wine, which it is now believed was spiked. The man woke up at a guest house in Litchtenburg, where the women took turns raping him. He was kept in the house for three days.
It has now emerged that five other cases, spread across policing precincts around the country, bare striking similarities in modus operandi. The others, however, all involved hitchhikers.
Northern Cape police spokesman Lieutenant Sergio Kock was reluctant on Wednesday to speculate on whether the incident in Kimberley was linked to other cases.
“The police investigation is still ongoing and we have no positive leads as yet. We cannot confirm at this stage whether there are any links to the other cases in the country,” he said.
The Phalaborwa police reported last week that a Hazyview man, who was walking along the roadside between Phalaborwa and Hoedspruit, was offered a lift by three women in a BMW 320i.
Police spokesman Constable Elvis Mongwe said one of the women offered the 31-year-old hitchhiker a soft drink. “Three minutes after drinking it, he had a painful erection,” Mongwe said.
He said the man was then taken to a deserted area where the women took turns raping him at gunpoint. They did not use condoms.
Afterwards, they took his cellphone and R300 cash and dropped him off at Eiland near Grayelotte.
No arrests have been made.
This is believed to be the latest in five cases since 2008. In three of the incidents, three women used a BMW.
In May, a man standing on the side of the road in Kwazakhele, Port Elizabeth, was grabbed by three women in a black BMW and raped at gunpoint. In a report at the time, he described his “shock, disbelief and pain” at the incident.
A month later a similar incident was reported, also involving a hitchhiker, who was given a lift by three women driving a BMW in Germiston. They allegedly demanded that he give them money and when he said he had none, they produced a firearm, blindfolded him, took him to a garage and gang-raped him.
In August 2012, it was reported that a man was hitchhiking in Gingindlovu when three women in a Toyota Tazz gave him a lift, held him up with a gun and then each woman - none of whom were wearing underwear - raped him three times after parking at the side of the road.
In January 2008, there was a similar report of a 20-year-old man who was left traumatised after three women and two men gave him a lift in a Toyota Venture while he was hitchhiking from Alkmaar to Nelspruit in Mpumalanga. At some stage, the driver pulled off the road, the two men pulled out guns and then the three women raped him.
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