Harrowing cries from a 17-year-old Soweto girl who was gang-raped by seven men have been captured on a cellphone video – and now she has disappeared.
The ordeal was filmed in 10 minutes and 33 seconds of footage that has gone viral.
The graphic video, which shows the girl being sexually assaulted by a group of teenage boys, was taken to the police on Tuesday and it was ascertained that the girl’s mother had reported her missing on March 21.
At one stage she cries out repeatedly: “You are forcing me, you are forcing me,” while one boy finishes with her and says: “I am okay with you,” before telling his friend: “Now you penetrate her.”
The footage, believed to be circulating among teenagers in Soweto, was delivered to the police by reporters from the Daily Sun newspaper.
Police spokesman Warrant Officer Kay Makhubela said police were working around the clock to find the girl, after seven young men – aged between 14 and 20 – were arrested at their homes on Tuesday afternoon.
They had been identified in the footage, and community members pointed them out.
The girl, who was described by Daily Sun as having the mental capacity of a four-year-old, went missing from her home a month ago, and manhunts by police and the Dobsonville community have been unsuccessful.
The low-quality cellphone video – reportedly filmed on March 31 – shows a girl being raped in an open veld, screaming and begging the seven young men to stop as they take turns raping her.
The assailants ignore her cries, joking and spurring each other on.
In a muffled sound clip of the incident, broadcast on Talk Radio 702 this morning, the boys are heard speaking Zulu.
One tells the victim: “Close your mouth,” while another is heard saying: “Pull down her trousers.”
Another voice in the background says: “Leave her alone.”
The girl repeatedly cries out that the boys are forcing her, while one boy finishes with her and instructs his friend to take over.
During the ordeal one of the boys asks the girl: “What will my baby say if I am arrested for you?”
In the chaos, one of the attackers demands that she have oral sex with him.
Another is heard calling out: “Let the madala get in,” which is tsotsi language for: “Let the bigger brother penetrate her.”
“She is not crying. You will give her the money. Sit down. Here is your money. Hey brother, give her that R2. All those who follow must also give you money,” a voice says.
At one stage the girl tries to pull up her trousers, but the boys refuse to allow her and continue having sex with her.
The grotesque video ends with one of the suspects offering the girl R2 for her silence and she is heard crying.
Daily Sun reported that a second video had also been discovered, showing two of the suspects gang-raping the same girl in a shack, filmed a few days after the first recorded incident.
The tabloid also reported that one of the men, 20, had already confessed to one of the rapes.
“I was on my way back from a soccer match with my friends when when I met the girl on the street.
“We dragged her into the nearest bushes where we all had sex with her.
“One of us took the video and I gave her R2,” Daily Sun reports he confessed.
A taxi driver also told the tabloid that he had seen the girl on Thursday at a local shebeen.
But Makhubela said none of the suspects were offering any information on where to find the missing girl.
The seven will continue to be questioned until tomorrow, when they are due to appear at the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on charges of rape and kidnapping.
They were arrested thanks to help from community members, with police originally arresting 13 suspects before freeing six.
Daily Sun reported that the girl had been raped in April 2009 by a man and again in April 2010 by a taxi driver.
Both cases failed in court as she had been unable to give proper evidence.
She apparently disappeared in December, and when she returned home she told her mother that she had been raped.
The girl’s tearful mother, a domestic worker, told the paper that she believed her child had been the victim of rape since she was 12, and the perpetrators had got off because of the girl’s disability and her family’s poverty.
Makhubela could not confirm claims that the schoolgirl was mentally disabled, but said it was possible that she had been kept as a sex slave since she disappeared a month ago ago.
Police believe that the suspects included pupils from different Soweto schools.
It is believed that they were part of a group of friends who formed a gang.
Anyone with information regarding the girl’s whereabouts can call the Dobsonville police station or Crimeline at 0860 10111. - The Star