Grabouw - The Grabouw-based family of a 14-year-old victim were on Monday disappointed by yet another postponement in the trial of a 22-year-old man charged with rape, attempted murder, and robbery.
“It is unfair,” said the victim’s mother. “All I got today was a date. I was hoping for something more.”
Standing outside the Grabouw Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning, the mother of the victim – who cannot be named to protect the teenager’s identity – said she wanted to see more being done to convict the man alleged to have brutally attacked her daughter.
In July, the otherwise quiet Grabouw was rocked by the brutal rape of the 14-year-old girl in an open field. It’s alleged the suspect stabbed her in the neck with a screwdriver and gagged her with one of her own socks.
He allegedly also bound her hands with wire and then buried her alive.
The victim, who allegedly knew her attacker, survived by pretending to be dead, and managed to claw her way out of her makeshift grave and make her way home.
She was hospitalised and has since made a full physical recovery.
Monday’s court appearance was the suspect’s second one since his arrest.
The victim’s family attended court proceedings and told ANA that the suspect lives close to their home and the crime scene.
Earlier in the police investigation, controversy arose when it was reported that investigating officers had botched the crime scene, paying little attention to protocol required in gathering evidence and cordoning off the area.
Police were still gathering evidence and, according to the presiding judge, investigations relating to DNA were still underway.
The suspect was thus remanded into custody and the case was postponed to November 25.
*Comments have been closed to protect the identity of the minor mentioned in the article.
African News Agency